Koala cull concerns

A PROPOSED koala cull in the Otway Ranges needs far greater oversight, according to the Australian Koala Foundation (AKF).
AKF chief executive Deborah Tabart said she raised concerns with environment minister Lisa Neville after an “unresponsive” phone call with the Department of Environment.
“Every question I asked during that call regarding mapping, guidelines, outcomes, research protocols, ethics and habitat management was met with no response,” Ms Tabart said.
To be rolled out this week, the Victorian Government’s plan includes trial translocations of koalas, sending dependent joeys into zoos, sick Koalas being euthanised after assessment, and fertility control for female koalas in the region.
“Ms Neville has said there have been consultations with a panel of animal welfare and ecological experts, and we would like to know whose advice has been sought,” Ms Tabart said.
“We’d like to know why our world-class scientists with mapping prowess weren’t included.
“It seems the best way to ensure that the Victorian Government has oversight is for (our) scientific team to be included in this assessment.”
Ms Tabart said she was concerned about the Department’s lack of mapping expertise, and wanted to know how release sites were chosen for translocations.
“Lack of maps and understanding of how koalas use the landscape over the past 50 years is exactly the reason why these problems are coming up,” she said.
Ms Tabart said an assessment of 400 Koalas in 10 days could not be thorough or meaningful.
“We’ve also been told that orphaned Joeys that are healthy will be put into zoos.
“This puts a nice spin on the fact that during the last cull, healthy joeys were euthanised along with their extremely sick mothers.
“This could be seen as sanitising the removal of healthy koalas from the bush for commercial gain.”
Ms Tabart said the AKF was totally opposed to fertility control in koalas and had asked the Minister to provide ethical and research protocols for the move.
She said the current situation in the Otways was the result of severe habitat mismanagement.
“Rather than looking at the trees and landscape and solving problems that way, the Victorian Government is instead killing koalas.
“We’ve offered our advice over the years, unfortunately to no avail,’’ she said.
“Perhaps this time, with the world watching, next week’s actions will be more respectful.”