Icon status saves koalas from cull threat
© 2001 Cable News Network
October 31, 2001
By Joe Havely
CNN Hong Kong
ADELAIDE, Australia (CNN) -- The government of South Australia has rejected proposals for a mass cull of up to 20,000 koalas saying it will look at other ways of controlling the animal population.
The plan was put forward by a panel of ecologists after it was discovered that koala numbers on Kangaroo Island had soared to between 21,000 and 33,000 -- a population far larger than previously thought.
According to the government the fragile ecosystem on the island just off the South Australian coast can only support a koala population of between five and ten thousand.
However, the government said any proposal for a mass extermination of the marsupials was not simply viable -- largely because the anticipated "significant international outrage" and the knock-on effects on tourism.
"There will be no koala cull," South Australian Environment Minister Iain Evans told CNN.
He said state tourism officials estimated any such action would cause significant financial losses as well as having an impact on employment.
Nature tourism is one of the major income earners for South Australia, Evans said, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
He said with visitors saw the koala as "one of the top five icons of Australia."
The report recommending a cull, he added, had been put together by an advisory committee, which had only looked at the technical ways of resolving koala overpopulation.
"As the government we have to consider a whole range of state-wide issues, including the impact on tourism and employment," Evans said dismissing suggestions the government was being "soft" on the issue.
"Our job is to balance the needs of all interest groups" he said. "We are trying balance to the needs of biodiversity with the needs of employment."
Previous proposals for koala culls have sparked international outrage and since the 1980s there has been an Australia-wide agreement ruling them out as a method of population control.
However, despite their cute, docile image many koala experts say the creatures' behavior more often varies between the mildly cranky to the downright bad-tempered.
Bite the bullet
According to The Advertiser newspaper, based in the state capital Adelaide, local conservationists have been urging the government to "bite the bullet" and agree to a cull.
They say the koalas, which were introduced to the island in the 1920s, have no natural predators to keep the population in check and are doing massive damage to one of the most sensitive ecosystems in the country.
"The impact these introduced koalas are having on Kangaroo Island is enormous" ecologist David Paton told The Advertiser.
"It is hypocritical. The Government allows a cull of the tammar wallaby, which is native to the island, but not koalas, which are not native."
Whilst dismissing the cull option, Evans acknowledged that some urgent action would have to be taken before the Kangaroo Island koalas "eat themselves into oblivion."
One option being considered, he said, was to intensify the five-year-old program of sterilization and relocating the animals to the mainland while seeking new methods of contraception.
So far the program has cost in the region of A$1.2m with 3,400 animals sterilized, of which 1,100 have been relocated to the mainland.
Evans said further funding, most likely running into the millions of dollars, would be needed over the coming years to build up the program.