Scientists Stumped : Australia’s Cuddly Koala a Dying Breed

Australia’s cuddly koalas, which once numbered in the hundreds of thousands, are a dying breed and scientists don’t know why.

After performing post-mortem examinations on about 130 of the animals, Dr. Paul Canfield, senior lecturer in the University of Sydney’s Department of Veterinary pathology, said recently that he is not close to finding an answer.

“A large percentage of the deaths are directly or indirectly related to car accidents or from maulings by wild animals and domestic pets,” Canfield said. “But in about 20% of cases we can’t find any tissue damage in the dead koala, so we don’t know the cause of death. And we just don’t have adequate information, so it is impossible to reach a diagnosis.”

Fertility May Be Impaired

Canfield said that some koalas may have developed urogenital disease, which may interfere with fertility.

He also believes that koalas are suffering from stress caused by having their food sources removed by land clearing, which forces them to travel long distances for food.

On the way they have to avoid being run over by cars, attacked by dogs or coming into contact with dangerous chemicals.

Canfield says nobody knows for certain how many koalas there are in Australia or if they are an endangered species, because there are too few scientists working on the problem.

Consequently, little is known about how to treat sick koalas. Treatments that normally work with domestic animals have limited success with ailing koalas.

Treating Symptoms

“If we can work out disease patterns, we can start working out treatments,” Canfield said. “Most treatment now is symptomatic, but we would like to treat the causes.”

The koala, often mistakenly referred to as a bear, is a tree-living marsupial common to forest areas of eastern Australia.

In the early part of this century, the koala was slaughtered by the thousands for its soft gray fur. But the animal has been totally protected for more than 50 years. A Sydney newspaper last year began a “Save the Koala Fund” after it received a number of reports from the public about dying koalas.