Toppled off of 'knife edge': Australia's famous Koala is now an 'endangered' animal

As a result of bushfires, land-clearing, drought and disease, Australia officially classified koalas as "endangered" across a vast expanse of its eastern coast on Friday.

Over the last two decades, the koala population in much of eastern Australia has plummeted, leading some conservationists to warn that they are now in peril, moving towards extinction.

According to estimates by the Threatened Species Scientific Committee, koala numbers have fallen from 185,000 in 2001 to just 92,000 in 2021.

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It was just a decade ago that the koala, a globally recognised symbol of Australia's unique wildlife, was listed as "vulnerable" on the eastern coast.

Sussan Ley, the environment minister, said she had designated koala populations as "endangered" to offer them a higher level of protection in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland.

"We are taking unprecedented action to protect the koala," the minister said, highlighting a recent government promise of Aus$50 million (US$36 million) to protect and recover koala habitats.

Environmental advocates applauded the koala's new status while criticising Australia for not doing enough to protect the species.

"Koalas have gone from no-listing to vulnerable to endangered within a decade. That is a shockingly fast decline," said WWF-Australia conservation scientist Stuart Blanch.

"Today's decision is welcome but it won't stop koalas from sliding towards extinction unless it's accompanied by stronger laws and landholder incentives to protect their forest homes."

Josey Sharrad, wildlife campaign manager at the International Fund for Animal Welfare, says that Australia's koalas were already living on a "knife edge" even prior to the devastating "Black Summer" bushfires of 2019-2020 because of land-clearing, drought, disease, car strikes and dog attacks.

"We should never have allowed things to get to the point where we are at risk of losing a national icon," Sharrad said.

"The bushfires were the final straw. This must be a wake-up call to Australia and the government to move much faster to protect critical habitat from development and land-clearing and seriously address the impacts of climate change."

Humane Society International's Alexia Wellbelove stated that if action is not taken, east coast koalas may go extinct by 2050.

"We can't afford any more clearing," she said.

Watch |Australia report a dramatic decline in the population of Koalas, designates it as endangered species

Research by the Australian Conservation Foundation showed that the federal government had approved clearing more than 25,000 hectares of koala habitat since the species was declared vulnerable a decade ago.

"Australia’s national environment laws are so ineffective they have done little to stem the ongoing destruction of koala habitat in Queensland and NSW since the species was supposedly protected a decade ago," said the foundation's nature campaign manager, Basha Stasak.

"The extinction of koalas does not have to happen," Stasak added.

"We must stop allowing their homes to be bulldozed for mines, new housing estates, agricultural projects and industrial logging."

(With inputs from agencies)