JEvery Australia tourist wants it – a selfie with a cute koala bear in the background. But that could soon be a thing of the past, the Wild Wildlife Fund (WWF) warns, predicting that the animals will be gone in the wild in 30 years unless explicit relief efforts are undertaken. According to WWF estimates, the devastating bush fires of recent years have reduced the koala population Down Under by 70 percent.
That’s why Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has now launched a rescue package worth 50 million Australian dollars (around 31.5 million euros). Part of it flows, for example, into the Wildlife Wonders Nature Park, which will open in 2021.
On the one hand the Great Australian Bight, on the other the Great Ocean Road – the 30-hectare area 200 kilometers southwest of Melbourne is a natural paradise with densely growing ferns and eucalyptus. It smells like cough drops, a kukaburra can be heard laughing in the distance, two emus cross the path.
Source: Infographic WORLD
Less than two meters away, a koala scrambled down the trunk of a tree, his hindquarters wobbling, hesitated briefly at the sight of the visitors and then quickly realized that excitement was not in his nature. Without haste, he crosses the human path and disappears into the bush.
Introduced animals are a danger for koalas
Although there are fences in the Wildlife Wonders nature park, the trees are so tall that the koalas could easily move from branch to branch into the open. The barriers apply to many more animal species that were not originally native to Australia and were only introduced by the Europeans, such as foxes, cats and wild boar. Because they have become a major threat to native species such as koalas, possums, rabbit-kangaroos and bandicoots.
In the park, on the other hand, the “old world” still seems to be in order; The area appears untouched and natural when walking along the wooden walkways. But it wasn’t always like this, says Lizzie Cork: “This was once farmland with brambles and sheep paddocks”.
Cork is the head of the Conservation Ecology Centre, a non-profit research and conservation organization that she founded herself in 2000. With the Wildlife Wonders Nature Park, the organization wants to turn back the clocks and show visitors what the original Australia used to be like.
Koala populations are recovering in protected areas
What: Getty Images/Tony Nguyen
To do this, Cork and her team spent months weeding down all non-native plants down to the last blade. With the help of remote-controlled cameras and tracking dogs, they then caught the wild animals and repopulated the land with “original Australian” animals.
Dramatic population decline in Victoria
According to Cork, Wildlife Wonders has two purposes: “First of all, it’s about getting people excited about nature. Second, we want to use it to raise funds for the Conservation Ecology Centre. Our environment here is facing enormous challenges. Wildlife Wonders gives us a revenue stream that is completely independent from the others and that we can use on the projects that need it most.”
One of the creatures that urgently needs this help is emblazoned on a giant poster above Janine Duffy’s desk: Koala Pat. The marsupial, says the chair of the Koala Clancy Foundation and head of eco-tour operator Echidna Walkabout, was the impetus for her commitment : “I always recognized Pat by the unique pattern on her nose when I was hiking through the You Yangs nature reserve east of Melbourne.”
In the past, koalas were hunted for their soft fur
Quelle: Getty Images/Photo by Bobby-Jo Clow
Week after week, year after year, she studied the behavior of koalas, their growth, their characteristics. Today, Duffy knows that it is this nose pattern that is unique to every koala and makes them identifiable like a fingerprint.
According to Duffy’s studies, which fill dozens of folders at her agency, the decline in the state of Victoria’s koala population has been dramatic since the late 1990s. Climate change is to blame. Koalas only fed on a well-defined range of eucalyptus species.
But with increasing CO2-Levels in the atmosphere degrade the nutrient quality in eucalyptus leaves, leaving the iconic animals at risk of malnutrition and eventual starvation. Duffy is certain that “Koalas will not survive a temperature rise of two degrees Celsius. Even at 1.5 degrees Celsius, I don’t know if we can keep them alive.”
A koala will not eat every eucalyptus
It’s not the first time people have worried about the marsupial. In the early 20th century, its soft fur was extremely popular around the world and it was hunted until close to extinction. Only then was the emergency brake pulled, a hunting ban imposed and some marsupials relocated to islands such as Phillip Island and French Island off the coast of Victoria, where they multiplied at breakneck speed, far from natural predators.
A dangerous overpopulation was soon recorded on the islands. Anyone who thinks that the problem has been solved and that the island koalas can now be brought back to the mainland is mistaken, says Duffy: “Overpopulation does not bring anything good. Island koalas often don’t reach full size, and sometimes their proportions don’t seem quite right.”
You can’t feed koalas just any eucalyptus leaf – they need the kind they were raised on
Quelle: pa/Zoonar/Dieter Meyer
Then there are the difficulties that are attributed to the “genetic bottleneck” of the island koalas: “Koalas can only digest exactly the eucalyptus for which they have the appropriate intestinal flora,” explains the animal rights activist. “And this is inherited from their mother. When combined with the Rod-Shaped Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus viminalis) grew up, then they can only eat this one. So to get them to a place like the You Yangs, you would have to somehow get them the gut bacteria for the eucalyptus species there.”
Holidaymakers help to protect the animals
But even then, the relocated koalas have little chance of survival: “The koala population is shrinking by 50 percent every decade because of the increasingly nutrient-poor plants,” says Duffy.
What is needed are healthy, mature eucalyptus trees that are not being harassed by imported plants. “So on our tours through the nature parks, we asked our guests if they would pull out some weeds for a koala. We were prepared for scrutiny, but the response was incredible: visitors thought the idea of doing something to protect koalas was fantastic. Suddenly we were no longer just a tour agency, but an inspiring eco-tour operator.”
With great success: Between 2012 and 2019, thanks to the efforts of visitors, they were able to clear an area of 120 hectares from weeds. The koala population has since increased fourfold.
Once the koala has found a comfortable position in the tree, it can rest for hours
Quelle: Getty Images/Lianne B Loach
When international tourism came to a standstill in early 2020 due to the corona pandemic, the Koala Clancy Foundation realigned itself. With the help of hundreds of local volunteers, the organization claims to have planted 25,000 eucalyptus trees in 2021 alone. The tree program should continue, parallel to the help of the tourists. Because Australia will open its borders to visitors again from February 21, 2022, after almost two years of isolation due to the pandemic.
And then new, even more sustainable koala trips will be offered. On Conservation Travel tours, according to Duffy, “participants will actively participate in conservation activities such as weeding, spotting animals, or counting birds. We live on a planet that desperately needs our help and tourism can help.”
Tips and information for Australia:
Getting there: For example with Emirates, Qantas or Scoot to Melbourne.
Entry: Australia will fully reopen its borders to all vaccinated visa holders from February 21. Travelers with a working holiday visa have been allowed to enter the country since December 15, 2022.
Koala Tours: A visit to the Wildlife Wonders Park costs 37 euros for adults and 15 euros for children between the ages of four and 15. Wildlife Wonders is located three miles south of Apollo Bay on the Great Ocean Road. Apollo Bay is 197 kilometers from Melbourne, the drive takes about two and a half hours, wildlifewonders.org.au.
Koala Clancy Foundation to Host Four-Day Wild Koala Tours in East Gippsland, Victoria, June 30, 2022 – March 31, 2023; the participants stay overnight in a lodge on site and spend the day with a guide on animal observation, price per person with overnight stay and full board from 1400 euros, koalaclancyfoundation.org.au.
The Australian Koala Foundation (AKF) is the largest non-governmental organization dedicated to the protection of koalas and provides information on its website about current projects, savethekoala.com.
Information desk: tourism.australia.com/en; australia.com/de-de; visitvictoria.com
Participation in the trip was supported by Tourism Australia and Visit Victoria. Our standards of transparency and journalistic independence can be found at axelspringer.com/de/werte/downloads.
Koala bear first causes accident and then explores his rescuer’s car
A koala has been involved in a rear-end collision in Australia while attempting to cross the highway in Adelaide. A brave driver caught the marsupial and brought it to safety. This is how these heartwarming shots were taken.