Bushfires: Sussan Ley warns koalas may be officially listed as ‘endangered’

Environment Minister warns the destruction of koala populations has been so great the species may be classified ‘endangered’.

Vets and volunteers treat a koala at Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park, on Kangaroo Island, southwest of Adelaide.

The federal government is warning the scale of destruction of koala populations from the bushfires has been so great they may soon be officially listed as “endangered’’.

The decision will be made by the threatened species scientific committee that manages the listing of all endangered species, but Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley said on Monday that the decision may be brought forward after the “extraordinary hit” from the fires.

“There is no doubt a large number of koalas have lost their lives, many others have been injured,” Ms Ley said.

“The truth is we don’t know the full extent of that damage until it has been mapped and until these fires are over.”

Koalas have been under threat for some time, listed as “vulnerable’’ in 2012, but previously healthy populations of koalas have been almost wiped out, with huge areas of Kangaroo Island and NSW’s South Coast turned to ash.

The Koala Foundation says laws have failed to protect the animals, despite the listing eight years ago.

The federal environment minister pledged a major response to the koala devastation as part of a $50 million wildlife package announced by the government on Monday.

“Everything that can be done to rescue and recover koala habitat, will be done, including innovative approaches that look at whether you can actually put a koala in an area that it hasn’t come from,” she said.

Ms Ley and Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said half the $50 million package would go to wildlife carers, hospitals and zoos “standing ready to do what they do best; breed insurance populations and get out there in the field and help and our natural resource management bodies”.

Zoos Victoria, Adelaide Zoos and Taronga Zoo will each get $1 million to pay for programs to breed and manage captive populations.

The other $25 million will be managed by Threatened Species Commissioner Dr Sally Box who will co-chair an expert committee with Ms Ley to coordinate a long-term strategy for animal recover after the fires.

Dr Box said she would look to “prioritise the species, the places that we most need to focus our efforts” .

“That might be about protecting habitat where you have the vulnerable species remaining. It may be about controlling pests and weeds. It may be about securing threatened species population and getting them into the zoos,” she said.

“I am convening this panel, it will include experts from CSIRO, from the universities, from the zoos and from our own Indigenous advisory committee. We will have fire ecologists, conservation biologists, expertise in captive breeding. We will have a range of expertise on the panel,” she said.

The panel will meet on Wednesday.

Deborah Tabart, the chairman of the Australian Koala Foundation, said the $50 million from the government won’t do anything to save the animals unless serious action was taken now.

“I regard money being thrown at the koala as a bandaid and a political PR stunt,” she said.

“The only way you can recover the species is to stop cutting trees down, that’s why I want a koala protection act.”

“When I’m impressed by the Australian Government is when they say they are going to sign the koala act. Tell Morrison I’ve got it ready for him to sign.”

There have previously been issues of koala overpopulation in some areas, 700 koalas at Cape Otway in Victoria’s south were euthanized in 2013 and 2014 after overwhelming the local forests. Previous studies have found high mortality rates for Koalas which were moved to different environments.

More than 1 billion living creatures are estimated to have been destroyed in the fires which have burned more than 6 million hectares.