Source : the age
Hundreds of koalas shot from helicopters in an unprecedented aerial shooting program in the bushfire-ravaged Budj Bim National Park were not checked for joeys after they were killed.
More than 1000 koalas were shot from helicopters in an operation the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate (DEECA) said was necessary to reduce animals’ suffering after bushfires. However, the department confirmed almost 90 per cent of the koalas were not examined on the ground before they were shot, and authorities could not access carcasses after aerial shootings to check for pouch young.
A koala and her joey rescued from bushfires that ravaged the Blue Mountains in 2020.Credit: Cole Bennetts
DEECA says its aerial shooting program, which concluded almost two months after bushfires swept through the park, was conducted as a “humane action [taken] to prevent further suffering” of koalas in the national park.
About half Budj Bim was burnt in bushfires sparked by a lightning strike on March 1.
The operation sparked international headlines from outlets including Times of India, the BBC and The Independent, and outrage from conservationists, who said the program highlighted poor land management practices.
Wildlife ecologist Dr Kara Youngentob described the shooting program as “a cull of convenience”.
Budj Bim National Park is surrounded by extensive commercial bluegum plantations, which the Victorian government estimates are home to an estimated 42,500 koalas. Bluegums are among the highest-nutrient loads of eucalypt species, allowing koalas to exist in higher densities than natural, mixed-species forests.
More than 2200 hectares of the Budj Bim National Park were burnt in the March fires.Credit: Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Change
DEECA says an overpopulation of koalas in Budj Bim has presented an “ongoing management issue” for 20 years, and the department undertook a “proactive” approach to manage koalas. It said the shooting operation was not linked to this program.
“This artificially high koala abundance sets the stage for major animal welfare problems when plantations are harvested, as huge numbers of displaced koalas are left without sufficient habitat to support them,” Youngentob said.
“Without intervention, these cycles of boom and bust will continue, creating repeated crises for both koalas and land managers.”
Burnt and unburnt sections of Budj Bim National Park.Credit: Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Change
DEECA Chief Biodiversity Officer James Todd said animals were assessed for their injuries and, where possible, were given care or rehabilitation so they could recover.
“However, due to direct impacts of the fire, the poor health and low likelihood of survival of many animals due to the ongoing drought conditions and lack of food post-fire, many of the animals are requiring euthanising.”
A DEECA spokesman confirmed, however, that ground crews had only been able to safely access 13 per cent of burnt park to assess koalas for injuries before they were “euthanised”.
In the other 87 per cent of park, animals had been assessed from helicopters, some 30 metres in the air, by crews using binoculars and other visual aids.
“All other methods which have been considered are not appropriate given the inability to safely access large areas of impacted landscape by foot due to the remote location of animals often high in the canopy, the extremely rugged terrain, and in consideration of the safety risks of working in a fire affected area, with fire impacted trees,” Todd said.
“The options were to just leave them to deteriorate or take proactive steps to reduce suffering by using aerial assessments.”
The environment department maintains the decision to euthanise wildlife in “a poor welfare state” was “in line with best-practice animal welfare principles”, and had been made in consultation with animal welfare experts.
Wildlife Victoria chief executive Lisa Palma said her organisation had not been consulted about the operation, but had been informed “after DEECA made the decision”.
A koala clings on in a tree outside a recently cleared section of bluegum plantation last week.Credit: Jessica Robertson/Koala Alliance
“We do not support culling of wildlife as a first resort,” she said.
“After bushfires, the tragic reality is that there’s often substantive loss of life and suffering of wildlife. Very, very few animals are not impacted by a major bushfire, and it is very much the norm that the most compassionate course of action for wildlife suffering severe burns and injuries is euthanasia.”
Koala Alliance president Jessica Robertson, who first alerted the media to aerial shootings a fortnight ago, said she believed the program was a de facto cull.
Robertson last week saw mature trees that had been banded in the north-eastern tip of the national park, which she said represent a missed opportunity to relocate koalas.
Banded trees proliferate in the north eastern tip of Budj Bim National Park.Credit: Jessica Robertson/Koala Alliance
“The population was so high in the park because of recent [plantation] clearing,” she said.
“We believe that due to recent clearings, the surviving koalas naturally migrated into the park because that’s all they have, essentially, and we believe that this was in some ways, a cull.”
A spokeswoman for RSPCA Victoria said the organisation had had no involvement in the aerial program.
“This is a heartbreaking situation with no perfect solution,” she said.
“We are calling on DEECA to conduct a thorough review of their program to ensure improvements and refinements are made to any future programs that may include aerial euthanasia methods in order to better protect animal welfare after extreme weather events.”
James Fitzgerald is a volunteer firefighter and trustee of Two Thumbs Wildlife Trust, which operates as a koala sanctuary in Cooma, south of Canberra.
He visited Budj Bim last week, six weeks after the fires started.
“The chopper was still going around shooting – we saw it come down and then fire; we heard the gunshots,” he said. “That’s six weeks post-fire. You’re telling me an animal that’s lived for six weeks after a fire is severely injured? I think anything that’s lived that long post-fire would be savable.”
He urged the Victorian government to use smaller fires like in Budj Bim to develop protocols for rescuing and rehabilitating wildlife after bushfires.
“Helicopter shooting of koalas, is a wasted opportunity. We know that climate change is intensifying bushfires, making them more common and larger. Small bushfires, like the Budj Bim National Park bushfire, is an opportunity to develop and perfect our wildlife disaster rescue response.”
A DEECA spokesman said the department was still determining how many koalas had been shot.
Humane World for Animals was told at a stakeholder briefing that more than 1000 had been killed.
