Koala move: 42% perish
ALMOST half of the 180 koalas relocated from Coomera for scientific purposes have died, State Parliament has been told.
Environment and Heritage Protection Department acting deputy director-general Nick Weinert told Estimates hearings this week that 42 per cent of the koalas relocated from forests near the Coomera Town Centre had perished.
The Coomera translocation process, undertaken by the Gold Coast City Council and external researchers, removed the 180 koalas from bushland at Coomera to secure habitats between 2008 and 2014.
The translocation and monitoring program was approved by the State Government under a “scientific purposes permit” at the time.
But, Mr Weinert said, the mortality rate of the relocated koalas was not significantly different to koalas elsewhere.
Thirty-five per cent of koalas already located on the new site had died, and 50 per cent of the animals at the Coomera forest site also perished.
“There is not a very significant variation between either the site of origin or the recipient site for the translocated population,” Mr Weinert said.
City council data reveals 54 koala joeys were produced by the relocated koala population. About 70 per cent survived the first 12 months.
Environment Minister Leanne Enoch confirmed the relocation practice would be reviewed on the advice of the Government’s Koala Expert Panel, but had not contributed to the mortality rate.
“Data shows that translocation was not responsible for, or contributed to, the koalas’ rate of mortality, as all of these animals were broadly subject to the same threats — habitat loss, predation, road trauma and disease,” she said.
“We are working with local conservation groups and the City of Gold Coast, in particular, to consider some specific approaches to koala conservation in the Coomera area.”
Opposition environment spokesman and Broadwater MP David Crisafulli, who raised the issue at Estimates hearing, told the Bulletin the Government’s approach to the problem was concerning.
“Not one koala has been saved by a pile of paperwork sitting on a politician’s desk waiting for a decision,” he said
Mayor Tom Tate said he was disappointed by the number of koala deaths.
University of Queensland koala expert Professor Frank Carrick said the failed translocation program was akin to “shifting deck chairs on the Titanic”.
“If you look at the record of translocation, you have to ask why would anyone in their right mind want to do it,” he said. “It was a disaster in South Australia, similarly in Victoria. Why would you want to repeat someone else’s mistake?”
“We are looking at the prospect of the koala becoming extinct on the Gold Coast.”