U.S. Group Pushes for Protection of Australia’s Koala

A U.S. conservation group accused Australia on Saturday of not doing enough to protect the koala, saying it had nominated the furry marsupial for an endangered-species listing.

The U.S. Fund for Animals said it is confident the koala would be listed under U.S. conservation law, along with other foreign species such as the snow leopard and the African elephant.

“A large number of the remaining koalas in Australia will be gone by the turn of the century if drastic actions are not taken immediately,” said Donald Schubert, the fund’s director of investigations.

He said the koala’s habitat is disappearing as the forestry industry, developers and farmers continue to fell trees.

The fund aimed, through a listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, to embarrass Australia into taking action, he said.

Australian authorities have expressed concern about loss of habitat for the koala, with the country’s most populous state, New South Wales, recently announcing that it would stop urban development that endangered the animals’ habitat.

But the fund said koalas are being forced into urban areas because authorities were allowing their forest habitats to be cut down.

The wild koala population has declined from 400,000 in 1986 to between 40,000 and 80,000 now.