AR-News: (UK) Ecologists demand cull of koalas

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

Tue 2 Mar 2004




FOREIGN STAFF 


CONSERVATIONISTS in Australia have caused controversy after suggesting a 
koala cull, claiming the fast-breeding bears are threatening the ecosystem of an 
entire island by stripping it of vegetation. 

Authorities have already tried sterilising the animals and moving them off 
Kangaroo Island - where they were first introduced about 100 years ago - but 
their numbers continue to rise. Now they are proposing a cull as the only way to 
preserve the island’s biodiversity. 

The plan has been criticised by environmentalists who say it could have a 
devastating effect on the area’s tourist industry. 

John Hill, an environment minister for South Australia state, said its 
tourism industry would be savaged if any koalas were killed, even though they have 
stripped many eucalyptus trees of leaves - the animal’s sole food source. 

"We rely a lot on the international market for our tourists," Mr Hill said, 
adding the issue was particularly sensitive in Japan. 

But Matt Turner, a scientific officer for the state’s Nature Conservation 
Society, insisted the koalas should be killed to save trees on the island, about 
40 miles off the coast of South Australia state, where up to 30,000 of the 
marsupials live. 





full story:

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=243892004 
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