An animal rights group has blasted the state government’s announcement that it is set to proceed with building a koala fence prior to construction works along the Pacific Highway near Ballina saying it will not save the animals.
Australians for Animals coordinator Sue Arnold said the highway upgrade could sound the death-knell for eastern sub-population of koala living along the highway route.
‘Not only noise, but the massive disruption and clearing of critical koala feed and shelter trees at time when climate change is resulting in extremely high temperatures on the northern rivers will in itself be a major threat to koala survival,’ Ms Arnold said.
‘Koalas will be subjected to a bizarre experiment by the RMS. An experiment which has never been previously attempted . Koala feed trees will be ring barked and collars put around the base to prevent animals from accessing their food .
‘The assumption is that koalas will move to other areas although other areas are not identified.’
Ms Arnold said local ecologists had recorded the problems faced by koalas when their habitat was destroyed.
She pointed to a community submission to former Federal Environment minister Greg Hunt that warned of the dangers.
‘A real life example from Ballina’s koalas – one hectare of known koala trees were cleared which impacted seven koalas that used them,’ the submission said.
‘They tried to survive in two-year-old koala planting but they proceeded to die one at a time over approximately 6 months, including a mother and cub. They didn’t move out of their home range to look for other trees they went to the closest of the food tree species, and waited, we imagine, for their trees to reappear.’
Ms Arnold said the NSW Chief Scientist Mary O’Kane had claimed that the government was spending $10 million to protect koalas, but a report put together by a panel that included the RMS and Forestry Commission, Koalas in decline in NSW, barely mentioned the Ballina population.
She said the recent passing of the Baird government’s Biodiversity Conservation Act would ensure more loss of habitat and prevent public interest legal challenges.
‘What’s happening to the Ballina koala population is an unnecessary tragedy,’ she said.
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