Koalas Killed on Southwest Roads

[Black Orchid]

The highest number of koala deaths has been recorded in Sydney in a single night since recording began.

Last Friday night, four of the beloved marsupials were killed by cars in Sydney’s southwest.

The fatalities included a mother koala carrying a joey on an unfenced section of Appin Road, near Campbelltown.

The Sydney Basin Koala Network recorded the disturbing data, proving bodies of the endangered animals are piling up.

Over the last 10 days, nine koalas have been killed in Appin, Picton, Heathcote and Long Point.

It’s the deadliest stretch since the network began collecting data in July 2022.

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The population near Campbelltown is currently the only major chlamydia-free colony on our mainland, with the offshore Kangaroo Island colony in South Australia the only other major disease-free population.

“Instead of prioritising protecting existing koala habitat, hundreds of hectares are being intentionally cut off by fencing or bulldozed for development, while areas that are supposed to be revegetated are years away from being functional,” she said.

“The only route left for these Koalas at the moment is down south where chlamydia is”.

In her opinion, there is a happy middle ground.

“Koalas generally travel along creek lines which are not suitable for development anyway; they just need these corridors to be wide (390-425m) so they are safe. There are usually only fairly minimal trade-offs that need to be made to facilitate these optimal widths while still providing housing,” Ms Carrick explained.

The expert is currently advocating for an overpass to be built at a key crossing point at Mallaty Creek, a location that has seen 10 deaths in the last year.

“The government is still wheeling out excuses for cutting off access to koala corridors such as Mallaty Creek on Appin Road by relying on heavily constrained advice written over five years ago, before koalas were listed as endangered and before the catastrophic amount of vehicle strikes,” Ms Carrick said.

More at ... https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real- ... ccf5f08502

Disgraceful. Destroying their habitat for a buck. It never stops.

Cruelly and inhumanely aerial shooting our Brumbies and Kangaroos.

People need to start caring.

[tllwd]

Other Sunday dogs took me for a walk in bush and I observed fair amount of koala droppings under trees, which means they returned after the big bush fire. Talking about pot holes on dirt roads, they are blessing in disguise for wild life, making people drive more carefully.