Australia has added colas to its list of ‘endangered’ animals

Published: 02/11/2022 – 08:54

A worrying step, but it should guarantee them better protection. Australia On Friday, February 11, it officially classified the colas of much of its east coast “In danger”. The number of these marsupials has been greatly reduced in recent years due to bushfire, land clearing, drought and disease.

Australian Environment Minister Susan Lay has classified the Kola population as ‘endangered’ in order to provide greater protection in New South Wales, the Australian capital and Queensland.

Conservationists say the cola has become extinct throughout much of eastern Australia over the past two decades, and that areas are on the brink of extinction. Welcoming the minister’s announcement, they condemned the failure of the authorities to protect the species so far.

“Shockingly rapid” decline

Cola, the global symbol of Australia’s unique ecosystem Classified as “vulnerable” On the east coast about ten years ago.

“We are taking unprecedented steps to protect Cola,” the minister said, adding that the government had recently pledged $ 50 million (.3 31.3 million) to protect and restore Kola’s habitats.

Colossus “has gone from vulnerable to dangerous over a decade. It is a shockingly rapid decline,” said WWF-Australia defense expert Stuart Blanche.

“Today’s decision is welcome, but unless landowners combine strict laws and incentives to protect their forest habitat, koalas will not be prevented from going extinct,” he added.

The Scientific Committee for Endangered Species, an independent government agency, estimates that the cola population will increase from 185,000 in 2001 to 92,000 in 2021.

Towards destruction by 2050?

Alexia Welpelov of Humane Society International If nothing is done, the colas on the East Coast will disappear in 2050. “We can no longer clear the land,” he says.

Studies by the Australian Conservation Trust show that the federal government has approved the removal of more than 25,000 hectares of cola habitat since the species was declared endangered.

“Australia’s environmental laws are so ineffective that they have failed to prevent the continued destruction of cola habitats in Queensland and New South Wales,” said Pasha Stasak, a trust official. “We must stop allowing mining, housing or agricultural projects and industrial logging to destroy their habitats,” he added.

Before 2019-2020 Disaster FireThe colas were already threatened with land clearing, Drought, Disease, collisions with cars and dog attacks, explained Josie Sharad, an official with the International Fund for Animal Welfare. “We must never allow things to take the risk of losing a national symbol,” he said.

According to him, “Pushfires are the last straw. This is a warning that Australia and the government must act very quickly, protect important habitats from development and land clearances, and actively address the effects of climate change.”

With AFP