Help Protect Victoria's Koalas

Displaced from their native habitat, koalas in far south-west Victoria, Australia have no choice but to seek refuge into blue gum plantations, but this is no safe haven for koalas.

Their homes will be cut down, often with koalas perched in the top branches, hidden from the human eye.

In January 2017, the Victorian government finally introduced its Koala Management regulations. We hope that these regulations bring improvements, thanks in part because logging companies now have to produce koala plans and have koala spotters on every logging site.

But the regulations fall short. There is one crucial omission. Nowhere is there any requirement for companies to retain or provide any permanent habitat for these koalas to live in.

Companies must invest some of their profits into providing permanent koala habitat and wildlife corridors so that they have somewhere to live.

Sign the petition today and urge Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio to do everything in her power to ensure that these koalas have somewhere safe to live.
Minister D'Ambrosio,

I am writing to you as an IFAW supporter regarding the ongoing and critical issue of koalas being injured, killed and displaced during blue gum harvesting operations in south-west Victoria.

Firstly, I would like to thank you for introducing regulations to protect koalas at risk from blue gum operations. I am pleased that you are addressing this critical animal welfare and conservation issue. However, I am concerned that the regulations only address part of the problem and do not provide a solution to the evolving animal welfare and conservation crisis that this region is facing.

Crucially, nowhere in the regulations is there any requirement for companies to retain or provide any permanent habitat or food source for koalas that are displaced and made homeless during logging operations. These koalas literally have nowhere to go. They need trees to eat and they need wildlife corridors to allow them to move out of the area into safety.

This situation is currently placing an unsustainable burden on the landscape, surrounding landowners and on local wildlife carers and vets who are left to rescue and rehabilitate the koalas that are injured and displaced. It’s a hugely time-consuming and costly task to rehabilitate a koala back to health. And then there is nowhere safe to release them back to. They cannot be released back into the plantations. They need a safe refuge.

I am therefore writing to implore you to please to do everything in your power to ensure that these koalas have somewhere safe to live.

Companies must be called on to invest some of their profits into providing permanent koala habitat and wildlife corridors so that these displaced animals have somewhere to live and somewhere to go. It is a moral obligation and should be made a legal one. I look forward to hearing from you.

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Thank you, [Your Name]
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