Conservationists demand action from Minns government after ‘alarming’ rise in deaths of female koalas and joeys
premier, Chris Minns, and senior ministers, the Sydney Basin Koala Network accused the government of a “development first, koalas later” mindset that was accelerating the species’ decline.The network said koala deaths from vehicle strikes on Appin Road, which links Campbelltown and Sydney’s western suburbs with Wollongong, had increased from 11 in 2022 to 19 so far in 2024, based on data from the government database BioNet.
Stephanie Carrick, a project manager at the Sydney Basin Koala Network, said: “We’re not opposed to housing. Koalas are also facing a housing crisis and we need their homes protected too by protecting their important migratory corridors and allowing them to safely travel through the landscape.” The letter to the government notes an “alarming” increase in female and joey deaths and said the road deaths were “having a significant impact on this important chlamydia free population”. “They cannot, over time, sustain this level of population decline,” the letter says.
Environment groups want the Mallaty Creek habitat corridor preserved as it provides one of the most direct corridors from the Georges River to the Nepean River.Female koalas and their joeys are particularly at risk, with conservationists saying there has been an ‘alarming’ rise in the number of deaths.Saul Deane from Save Sydney’s Koalas said the plan to fence koalas out of the area was “inexplicable”.
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