Nature

Koalas, Under Stress From Wildfires and Climate Change, Could Become Extinct in One Part of Australia

PORT MACQUARIE, AUSTRALIA - NOVEMBER 29: A koala named Pete from Pappinbarra at The Port Macquarie Koala Hospital on November 29, 2019 in Port Macquarie, Australia. Volunteers from the Koala Hospital have been working alongside National Parks and Wildlife Service crews searching for koalas following weeks of devastating bushfires across New South Wales and Queensland. Koalas rescued from fire grounds have been brought back to the hospital for treatment. An estimated million hectares of land has been burned by bushfire across Australia following catastrophic fire conditions in recent weeks, killing an estimated 1000 koalas along with other wildlife. (Photo by Nathan Edwards/Getty Images) — A koala named Pete from Pappinbarra at The Port Macquarie Koala Hospital on November 29, 2019 in Port Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia. Volunteers from the Koala Hospital worked alongside National Parks and Wildlife Service crews searching for koalas after weeks of devastating bushfires across New South Wales and Queensland. Koalas rescued from fire grounds were brought back to the hospital for treatment. A new government report predicts that koalas could be extinct in New South Wales by 2050.
(Photo by Nathan Edwards/Getty Images)

Koalas, ravaged by wildfires and habitat loss, could become extinct in Australia's New South Wales by the year 2050, according to a new government report.

The prediction is based on a year-long study launched just a few months before devastating wildfires burned more than 40,000 square miles of land, much of it in New South Wales.

"Many koala populations were suffering terribly through drought conditions that had plagued NSW for years, exacerbated by climate change," Cate Faehrmann, a member of the New South Wales Parliament who chaired the study, wrote in the foreword. "Then came the fires."

Huge swaths of koala habitat were burned, with as much as 81% disappearing in some locations.

An estimated 5,000 koalas were lost and the animals, long an iconic symbol of Australia, became the international face of the fires.

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The marsupials, including those in New South Wales, were already faced with dwindling habitat and lack of food and water thanks to hot, dry weather.

"With the trees dying and the streams drying there is a recipe for disaster," Philip Spark, a wildlife ecologist, told the government committee that oversaw the study. "Koalas are really on the brink of not surviving … Koalas and other exposed wildlife are on the brink. A crisis can happen with very little warning."

Eucalyptus trees are a staple of the koala's diet. The trees' leaves aren't just a source of food, but also a source of water. Images of koalas emerging from their natural habitat to drink from garden hoses and water bowls have become common in recent years as eucalyptus has disappeared, especially during the wildfires.

The 311-page government report takes note of the fact that no one really knows for sure how many koalas were in the wild in New South Wales before the wildfires, calling a government estimate of 36,000 "outdated and unreliable."

A separate report before the fires last year from the Australian Koala Foundation estimated there were about 80,000 koalas left in Australia overall, and warned the population was becoming too small to breed enough healthy offspring to produce another generation.

The animals don't live anywhere else in the world.

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