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The Koalas are one of the most recognizable (and probably beloved) symbols in Australia and in part of their territory, such as New South Wales, Queensland or the Territory of the Australian capital They are considered in danger of extinction. Neither one nor the other has prevented a group of snipers being killing hundreds and hundreds of these marsupials in the BUDJ BIM National Parka wide nature reserve located to the south of the country. They do it from helicopters, with the support of the government and supposedly for “Humanitarian reasons”.
The big question is … why?
Snipers, helicopters and koalas. A priori are three concepts without too much relationship with each other, but those are the protagonists of the controversy that has shaken in recent days the Victoria statesouth of Australia, where the Budj Bim National Park is located. Local press days ago He started informing that hundreds and hundreds of koalas were sacrificing there.
If the news was not surprising (and sad) already won even more impact When it transcended How the killing is carried out: animals are dejected From helicopters with the aid of snipers. All this of course with the PLACET of the Department of Energy, Environment Climate (DEECA), The conservation authority, as confirmed recently The ABC chain.
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How many koalas have they dejected? The exact encrypts can dance based on the source that is consulted, but they all agree on something: the campaign is ending hundreds and hundreds of koalas in the region, more than half a thousand.
In the middle of the month, as the news progresses, Yahoo News assured that had sacrificed between 600 and 700 marsupials. There are activists who raise However, the total balance of the measure above the 700 copies And in the last hours Europa Press (AP) rounded the figure talking about “Up to 750 koalas”.
And what is the reason? Humanitarian reasonsaccording to The authorities allege of Victoria. The sacrifices are part of a precipitated euthanasia campaign in turn, the government insists, for The forest fire that devastated in March around 2,200 hectares of the Budj Bim National Park. The flames would have affected part of the fauna (including the koalas) and also devastated 20% of the Natural Reserve. The result: injured animals, abandoned and have seen how much of the eucalyptus they need to feed.
No other options? Although the use of helicopters and snipers can be striking (and unorthodox), the Victoria government assures that the decision was adopted after “exhaustive evaluations” and that the koalas that are being down are “severely affected” by the forest fire. Moreover, Deseca claims that he has not found other alternatives to face the problem beyond hiring professional shooters and uploading them to helicopters.
“All other methods considered are not adequate given the impossibility of safely accessing large areas of the affected landscape due to the remote location of the animals, which are often found at the top of the treetops, the extremely rugged land and the safety risks that lead to work in an area affected by fire and with damaged trees,” James Todd explainshead of Deca, to Vox Magazine.
Do you all think the same? No. and good proof is that the news about the campaign has unleashed an intense controversy in the state of Victoria, the Australian team and beyond even the country. The reason: the scope of the measure.
The Animal Justice Party He has denounced that local authorities “are not making any effort” to verify whether females dejected from the air have, for example, young. AND Alliance for the Koalas It even goes further and denounces that technicians have no way to check from the heights if the specimens they deduct are really in “bad conditions.” “It seems very indiscriminate,” Rolf Schlagloth agreesresearcher at the CQUNIVERSITY Australia specialized in Koalas. “The rescue should always be the first option if possible.”
Beyond shots and helicopters. Among the activists and experts, not only has the selective koala slaughter bothered. Throughout the last days, voices have also been raised that they see in what happened in Budj Bim An example More than “the poor management of the species and its habitat” and warn of the effect of eucalyptus felling or the threat of global warming and fires.
“We cannot eliminate forest fires completely, but more healthy forests and with greater continuity they can help reduce the risk and severity of the fires. The Koalas habitat must be extensive and be connected, and the management of the blue eucalyptus plantations must take into account the koalas,” SCHLAGLOTH ZANJA In a recent interview with Vox Magazine.
Taller slopes. That last nuance is important. In Another article Posted in The conversation By Liz Hicks and Ashleight Best, two law experts at the University of Melbourne, remember that Budj Bim National Park is surrounded by commercial eucalyptus plantations, hectares full of foliage that end up receiving koalas in search of food.
The problem is that this availability of the sheet leads to the populations of the marsupial to increase. And once the plantations are talked, those same animals return to the protected park. The result: greater pressure in the area and greater vulnerability to fires such as March. “Animals point out that logging is one of the reasons why Budj Bim had so many koalas,” They add.
Images | ART WARRIOR (Flickr) and NGHIA NGYEN (UNSPLASH)
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