Save the Koala
This song, titled "The Answer is You" was written by Cheryl Shantz and Jack Schumaker to coincide with Save The Koala Month, September 2010. Australia's koala is one of the Earth's most beautiful, innocent, and endearing inhabitants, but tragically its future is now in doubt due to habitat destruction, urban development, disease, road deaths, domestic dog and fox attacks, and worsening forest fires due to global warming and people's carelessness. If something drastic is not done immediately, we risk losing this truly unique and all-inspiring creature.
It is estimated that as few as 43,000 koalas remain in the wild, which contrasts with the estimated 3 million that once populated Australia. Over 2 million koalas were killed in the late 1800s and early 1900s when their fur was exported to the USA. By the late 1920s, the USA banned them but by then the koala was already extinct in parts of Australia.
Koalas live in the eucalyptus forests of eastern Australia and from northern to southern Australia. Their only diet is the eucalyptus leaves, which makes the koala extremely vulnerable to habitat destruction. By far the biggest threat to the koala is in fact habitat destruction at the hands of human beings, which claims thousands of koalas every year. Vast stretches of prime koala habitat continue to be bull-dozed in order to satisfy the unceasing demand for new property developments around Australia, but especially in Queensland which is experiencing growth at a pace that takes almost no regard of the koala's future. In Queensland, koala numbers have plummeted to 60% less than what they were a decade ago. In northern Queensland, 20,000 koalas once lived but a recent four-day study by wildlife researchers reported that none could be found.
As for disease, Chlamydia, a potentially lethal affliction still without a cure, attacks the koala's eyes and bladder and leads to a very slow and painful death. Many are also affected by AIDS or KIDS (Koala Immune Deficiency Syndrome) that has no cure or vaccine. This is similar to the AIDS that affect humans. But in koalas the effect is much more severe, and death comes much faster.
Road deaths are a worsening problem due to increasing traffic caused by growing human populations encroaching on their former land. Koalas have a complex social structure and are territorial creatures. Each koala has a specific number of trees within its territory. When access to these trees is blocked by new roads, koalas will still try to cross the road at the risk of being hit. Relocation is a low success rate because their territorial and social habits are largely misunderstood.
The Answer is You! Please get involved. For information on how you can help, contact the AKF at the following address:
Australian Koala Foundation
Website: www.savethekoala.com
Email: akf@savethekoala.com
Telephone: 61-7-32297233
Fax: 61-7-32210337
Address: GPO Box 2659, 1/40 Charlotte Street, Brisbane 4000, Queensland, Australia
It is estimated that as few as 43,000 koalas remain in the wild, which contrasts with the estimated 3 million that once populated Australia. Over 2 million koalas were killed in the late 1800s and early 1900s when their fur was exported to the USA. By the late 1920s, the USA banned them but by then the koala was already extinct in parts of Australia.
Koalas live in the eucalyptus forests of eastern Australia and from northern to southern Australia. Their only diet is the eucalyptus leaves, which makes the koala extremely vulnerable to habitat destruction. By far the biggest threat to the koala is in fact habitat destruction at the hands of human beings, which claims thousands of koalas every year. Vast stretches of prime koala habitat continue to be bull-dozed in order to satisfy the unceasing demand for new property developments around Australia, but especially in Queensland which is experiencing growth at a pace that takes almost no regard of the koala's future. In Queensland, koala numbers have plummeted to 60% less than what they were a decade ago. In northern Queensland, 20,000 koalas once lived but a recent four-day study by wildlife researchers reported that none could be found.
As for disease, Chlamydia, a potentially lethal affliction still without a cure, attacks the koala's eyes and bladder and leads to a very slow and painful death. Many are also affected by AIDS or KIDS (Koala Immune Deficiency Syndrome) that has no cure or vaccine. This is similar to the AIDS that affect humans. But in koalas the effect is much more severe, and death comes much faster.
Road deaths are a worsening problem due to increasing traffic caused by growing human populations encroaching on their former land. Koalas have a complex social structure and are territorial creatures. Each koala has a specific number of trees within its territory. When access to these trees is blocked by new roads, koalas will still try to cross the road at the risk of being hit. Relocation is a low success rate because their territorial and social habits are largely misunderstood.
The Answer is You! Please get involved. For information on how you can help, contact the AKF at the following address:
Australian Koala Foundation
Website: www.savethekoala.com
Email: akf@savethekoala.com
Telephone: 61-7-32297233
Fax: 61-7-32210337
Address: GPO Box 2659, 1/40 Charlotte Street, Brisbane 4000, Queensland, Australia