Australia Disputes U.S. Listing Koalas as EndangeredCANBERRA, Australia (Reuters) -- Australia criticized a decision by the United States on Wednesday to list the nation's native cuddly marsupial, the koala, under U.S. endangered species laws.
Environment Minister Robert Hill said the decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was "inappropriate and unnecessary" and ignored scientific data on the abundance of koalas in Australia.
"All Australian states and territories where koalas occur have legislation protecting the species," Hill said in a statement.
"The U.S. decision will not contribute to the conservation of the species in Australia."
"The listing ... will have no practical effect as it imposes trade regulation on imports of the species only," he said.
"As koalas are only subject to limited zoological trade, the only practical implication will be a requirement for import permits by U.S. zoos wishing to acquire koalas."
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it hoped to raise awareness of the plight of koalas, a tourist's favourite, by listing them as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and prohibiting their trade by anyone subject to American law.
In addition to the ban placed on their import, export and interstate or foreign commerce, koalas will be the subject of a cooperative effort between Washington and Australia on how best to conserve the mammals.
The U.S. listing followed a petition from environmental lobby group Australia for Animals and its U.S. based affiliate, Fund for Animals.
"However it does not take into account the conservation and wildlife management strategies in place in Australia," Hill said.
Conservation programmes in Australia since the 1930s have protected koalas from hunters, who once killed them for their fur.
Populations estimates now range from 40,000 to 400,000 across the country but human encroachment and ensuing changes in the koala's habitats have been blamed for recent population drops.
Nearly two-thirds of the eucalyptus forest and woodland ecosystem on which the koala depends has been lost, the Fish and Wildlife Service said.