No, Really: Australia Has a Good Reason for Killing Almost 700 Koalas

Officials secretly culled koalas on the country’s southern coast because the animals were starving to death.



(Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)


http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/03/04/700-koalas-are-killed-name-overpopulation?cmpid=tpdaily-eml-2015-03-04

March 04, 2015 By Taylor Hill

Taylor Hill is Take Part's associate environment and wildlife editor.


Koalas are having a rough go of it lately. Between dehydration from Australia’s historic drought and singed paws thanks to recent brushfires, extreme weather has given the furry marsupials more than enough to deal with.

Now another threat has emerged: the Australian government.

On Wednesday, an official confirmed that between 2013 and 2014, the government secretly euthanized 686 koalas in Australia’s Cape Otway National Park because the local population had grown bigger than the park could sustain.

"The intervention was necessary to prevent suffering of koalas because they weren't able to find enough food," said Lisa Neville, environment minister for the state of Victoria, in a statement.

FULL story at link.