Expert wants new plan to save Victoria’s koalas

VICTORIA needs a new and well-resourced koala management plan to help the marsupials thrive amid growing threats from bushfires, habitat loss, disease and other risks, says a koala expert from Deakin University.
Dr Desley Whisson, an ecologist at Deakin’s School of Life and Environmental Sciences, said more than 65 per cent of Australia’s koalas live in Victoria and South Australia, making it a critical population to conserve, given the impacts of the recent bushfires.
“Because most of Victoria’s koalas live in south-west Victoria, only five to seven per cent of Victoria’s koalas were affected by the recent bushfires, which were concentrated in East Gippsland.
“In contrast, about 45 per cent of koalas in northern NSW and five per cent of those in southern NSW are estimated to have been lost.”
An advisor on koala population control programs across Victoria for the past 13 years, Dr Whisson wants a comprehensive and transparent management plan in Victoria that provides strategies tailored to specific conditions faced by koalas in different locations.
“Koala population planning in Victoria has tended to be very reactive,” she said. “But now we need a proactive plan to identify issues, with actions and resources that allow those issues to be dealt with strategically and cost-effectively.”
In a paper published recently in Conservation Science and Practice, Dr Whisson said southern populations of koalas (Victoria and South Australia) were becoming increasingly important for the koala’s future survival, given declining numbers in NSW, the ACT and Queensland.
“The koala’s variable conservation status and management needs across its range creates challenges for policy makers and wildlife managers.
“In Victoria, issues with overabundance get the most attention. Where this occurs, preferred food trees may become defoliated, leading to mass starvation of koalas. However, focusing on this problem has tended to take resources away from key issues of low genetic diversity, climate change impacts and habitat loss.”
Koala overpopulation has been an issue at Cape Otway several times in recent years, with the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) relocating some of the animals elsewhere.
A DELWP spokesperson said the department was developing a new Victorian Koala Management Strategy, to be available for public consultation by mid-year.
“The strategy aims to ensure that Victoria’s koala populations and their habitat are secure, resilient and valued. The strategy will ensure there is a strategic and co-ordinated approach to the management of koalas in Victoria and will be informed by engagement with scientists, Traditional Owners and the Victorian community.”