*******************************
WORLDWIDE
BIODIVERSITY/FOREST CAMPAIGN NEWS
AUSTRALIA:
Largest Remaining Koala Habitat to be Destroyed
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Forest
Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises
March
11, 1995
OVERVIEW
& SOURCE
Australian
conservation and animal protection groups are appealing
for
help as the Queensland Government moves to destroy the largest
remaining
colony of koalas left in the entire country.
The
Eastern
Tollway, a super highway planned to link the Gold Coast
with
Brisbane, will go right through the middle of prime koala
habitat. It will cause irreversible damage to the
largest koala
habitat
area left on the continent. Koalas are
at risk of
extinction. Please write to the address provided to
protest this
habitat
destruction. This was posted in
econet's en.alerts
conference.
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TEXT STARTS HERE:
/** en.alerts:
102.0 **/
**
Topic: Koalas in Danger of Extinction! **
**
Written 2:54 PM Mar 10, 1995 by fund4animals in
cdp:en.alerts
**
KOALAS
IN DANGER OF EXTINCTION!
PROPOSED
TOLLWAY IN QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIA
MAY
DESTROY LARGEST REMAINING KOALA HABITAT
Australian
conservation and animal protection groups are desperate
for
help as the Queensland Government moves to destroy the largest
remaining
colony of koalas left in the entire country.
The
Eastern Tollway, a super highway planned to link the Gold
Coast,
a popular tourist destination, with Brisbane
will go right
through
the middle of prime koala habitat. It
will cause
irreversible
damage to the largest koala habitat area left on the
continent
in a state which has almost wiped out all of its native
forests.
At a
time when Australia's koalas are in danger of extinction
through
the activities of the multinational timber industry,
developers,
as well as drought and bushfires, the Tollway will be
an
environmental catastrophe.
In
spite of the fact that the Government recognizes that the koala
colony
(which numbers around 4,000) has regional, state and
national
significance, the Queensland government has gone on
record
saying it is prepared to "sacrifice" between 40 and 60 home
ranges.
Almost
2000 ha. of the forest will almost certainly be lost.
Worse
still, the government has no base line scientific
information
on population dynamics. There have been
no radio
tracking
studies to identify movement patterns; the government
can't
even be bothered doing proper environmental impact studies.
This is
a state where citizens have virtually no legal rights to
challenge
developments like the Tollway. What
meager legal
avenues
are available would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
With
the biggest number of overseas tourists, Queensland is
vulnerable
to a tourist boycott. Please help save
this precious
irreplaceable
colony of koalas. Time is running out
for these
unique
creatures, and the Australian authorities appear to have
little
interest in the survival of the koala.
Send
letters of protest to:
Premier
Wayne Goss
15th
Floor, Executive Building
100
George Street
Brisbane
4000, Australia
Fax:
61-7-221-1206
Letters
will make a big difference. The
Government has ignored
huge
protests by citizens, some involving more than 5,000 people,
and is
hoping to avoid an international outcry.
Threatening to
boycott
Queensland is likely to produce results.
In a
related story, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is
currently
accepting comments on a petition filed by Australians
for
Animals and The Fund for Animals to list the koala as an
endangered
species in New South Wales and Victoria and as a
threatened
species in Queensland. Please send
letters before
April
1, 1995 supporting the listing petition to:
Ms.
Mollie Beattie, Director
U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service
1849 C
Street, NW
Washington,
DC 20240
If you
would like more information about the listing petition or
the
Tollway, please contact The Fund for Animals at
fund4animals@igc.apc.org.
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TEXT ENDS###
You are
encouraged to utilize this information for personal
campaign
use; including writing letters, organizing campaigns and
forwarding. All efforts are made to provide accurate,
timely
pieces;
though ultimate responsibility for verifying all
information
rests with the reader. Check out our
Gaia Forest
Conservation
Archives at URL=
http://forests.lic.wisc.edu/forests/gaia.html
Networked
by:
Ecological
Enterprises
Email
(best way to contact)-> gbarry@forests.org
Phone->(608)
233-2194 || Fax->(608) 231-2312