While the country laments the loss of wildlife due to bushfires, talks on Kangaroo Island aim to ensure its koala population does not regenerate.
, talks are being held on Kangaroo Island to ensure its decimated koala population does not regenerate.Koalas on the island were introduced and unsustainableKoalas are a pest on Kangaroo Island — they were introduced in the 1920s in response to population decline across the country's south-east caused by the fur trade.
Starting with 18 disease-free koalas from French Island in Victoria, the population spiralled out of control to an estimated 50,000 by last year, creating unsustainable pressure on the local environment. "I'm loath to put a number on how many koalas we have lost as a result of the fires, and no-one wants to see any native species, or any animal, suffer in the fire," SA Environment Minister David Speirs told"But we have certainly lost tens of thousands and could be down to a population of 5,000 to 10,000.
"According to the ecologists I have spoken to, it's likely to be a much more sustainable population on the island."While koalas are a threatened species in many parts of Australia, this is not the case in the Mount Lofty Ranges, the foothills of Adelaide and the southern suburbs, where a"decent, healthy population" of about 150,000 koalas is thriving.
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