Save our koalas

After a season of horrifying and destructive bushfires, the surviving koalas are facing new threats to their lives and homes. Logging companies are clearing land where koalas might be – and locals are stuck at home as a result of coronavirus restrictions, unable to protest. We are calling on NSW Premier Berejiklian to take action – suspend logging and protect our koalas from further threats!

Estimates suggest that as many as 5,000 koalas died in NSW alone and that they have lost as much as 83 percent of their habitat in NSW, as a result of the bushfires. Injured koalas have only just started returning to their homes. They need time to recover and we need to ensure they don't face further threats to their lives.

There is exceptionally strong evidence that koalas remain in areas where logging has been permitted to continue - evidence that should by law necessitate the immediate suspension of logging until further investigation has been undertaken. Undeniable proof has come to light of koalas living in active logging areas, including residents hearing koala activity and koala claw marks being found on trees. Given the state of the koala population, it's critical that NSW Premier Berejiklian suspend logging and a thorough assessment conducted to ensure koalas face no further threats. If there are koalas living where logging is occurring, we need to make sure it stops so they can be protected.

A NSW Government Parliamentary Inquiry has just been released, and it finds that the koala population will be driven to extinction by 2050 if major action isn't taken to protect their habitat from logging. This is further evidence of the urgency of the crisis and why we need to ramp up the pressure now.