Gewonde koala's in zuidoost Queensland (Australië) kunnen gered worden door betere terugplaatsing in natuur - In 10 jaar tijd 25.000 koala's gedood

Moves could save koalas in southeast Queensland

29-11-2009 By Paul Weston, The Courier Mail, Australia


THE State Government-enforced practice of returning injured koalas to where they were found - even near busy roads - is under fire from green groups and researchers. Carers say more koalas than ever are being killed by vehicles and the carnage could result in their extinction in the state's southeast.

New research on the Gold Coast could hold the key to saving the much-loved animals, according to environmentalists.

Gold Coast City Council has begun relocating a handful of koalas at Coomera – part of a colony of more than 100 under threat from a housing development – to Canungra in the hinterland as part of a $20 million pilot program.
Researchers are using radio transmitters to determine if the koalas stay in their new home before moving the other animals.

The current practice for carers, enforced by the State's Nature Conservation Act, is to return injured koalas to their "home range" despite the increasing threat of road traffic or dogs.

Wildlife Australia carer Karen Scott hopes the study will lead to a change in laws that force carers to return injured koalas to within 5km of where they were rescued.
"I think there needs to be a bit of give and take in the legislation. Maybe 10km is a better limit, where they can establish a home range and not get hit by a car or attacked by a dog," she said.

Green groups such as the Gold Coast and Hinterland Environment Council and Australia Koala Foundation, following a briefing by council officers in the past week, welcomed the project, but fear governments will be too slow to act.

Australian Koala Foundation chief executive officer Deborah Tabart said the future of the species was "on the edge" in southeast Queensland, where 25,000 deaths had been recorded in the past 10 years.

She acknowledged the new research could help prevent their extinction within a decade.
"You can't protect them from the dangers . . . and they put them back in the same war zone."

Currumbin Valley resident Steve Barnes, who has saved several koalas after they were hit on busy roads, believes they should be relocated to safe bushland.
"It's crazy putting them back where they have been hit."

(Bron: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail)
(Bron foto: Courier Mail)