Activists warned that the koala would be "functionally shut down"

The beautiful marsupial, one of the animals icons of Australia, is seriously threatened and may disappear from the planet because there are more than 80 000 copies in this country.

The Australian NGO Koala Foundation has sounded the alarm by saying that koalas and the habitat in which they live have long suffered a serious threat, aggravated over the years, to the point that they could be "functionally extinguished", reported today an article from ANSA Latina.

According to the studies of the entity, only 80,000 specimens of this species remain in Australia, which requires a protection law for these animals. The figure represents only the 1% of the eight million people who were killed between 1890 and 1927 for their skin were sent to London.

In addition, the statement reveals that after checking since 2010 the 128 districts of the koala habitat, the species has already disappeared from 41 years old.

The destruction of koala habitats and the disappearance of eucalyptus, which is their main means of subsistence, are the main threats to the survival of these marsupials.

It's him The progress of industry and urbanization, which invades the natural space of these animals, is what puts them at risk. According to experts, the destruction of trees such as eucalyptus is essential in this process.

The term "Functionally extinct" could describe a species "that has shrunk so much that it can no longer play the role that it once played in an ecosystem", says a report in New scientist, although not all experts agree with the evaluation of AKF.

Biologist Christine Adams-Hosking of the University of Queensland, Australia, said New scientist What Koalas are not threatened with total extinction throughout Australia, but added that "at the rate of habitat loss, we will witness an increase the number of extinctions of the local population ".

Estimates differ from the number of koalas remaining in the wild, but Experts agree that koala populations are declining due to habitat loss and global warming.
For example, koala populations in parts of Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, have decreased up to 80%, Due to extreme weather conditions such as droughts and severe heat waves, Adams Hosking writes in a trade publication: The conversation. Other threats to the species include diseases and deforestation.

"Only 230 years ago, millions of koalas roamed the great forests and shrubs of eastern Australia", writes WWF Australia in its 2019 koala conservation plan. "It is likely that koalas have already disappeared from large areas of their former range in western New South Wales and in the south. Queensland, suggesting that habitat conditions in these areas are now inadequate to support koala populations", adds the report.

Once a local population falls so low that it can no longer reproduce or inbreeding becomes common, extinction could be the next step. warned Hosking.

In the press release of the AKF, Tabart urges lawmakers to approve the Koala Protection Law. The legislation is based on the Bald Eagle Act used in the United States and which, according to the Australian NGO, "was a success because there was a political motive to ensure that its icon was not extinguished".

"Our tourist icon is ready to disappear", Completed the Australian NGO.