Koalas functionally extinct in Australia

cde.news desk 17 May 2019, 17:46 · 1 min read

epa07053669 An eight-months-old female koala cub holds on to the back of its mother 'Eora' at the zoo in Duisburg, Germany, 28 September 2018. The yet unnamed baby weighs 750 grams. More than 36 juveniles have been raised at the Kaiserberg since 1994, and some have been transferred to other zoological facilities. EPA-EFE/SASCHA STEINBACH

Koalas are “functionally extinct” in their native Australia, it has been declared.

The Australian Koala Foundation’s chairman Deborah Tabart says there are no more than 80,000 koalas in the country and, while this might seem like a lot, there are not enough breeding adults to support the next generation.

The number was a fraction of the eight million koalas shot for fur and sent to London between 1890 and 1927.

“Functionally extinct” is a scientific term to describe the species as being “beyond the point of recovery”.

Activists worry that it would only take a new disease to kill off the remaining koalas.

Via Sky News

Topics Australia Koala Nature