Hundreds of koalas euthanized in Cape Otway to prevent starvation deaths

#CapeOtway #Koalas #DeakinUniversity #Melbourne With an unprecedented increase in the population of koalas in the manna gum woodlands in Victoria, the wildlife officials have euthanize 686 of the animals near the Great Ocean Road during 2013 and 2014 s reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 4 March 2015.
It seems many of the koalas were starving and, hence, were killed via lethal injection after being captured in trees. The government is working out options on how best to tackle starvation in the koala habitat at Cape Otway, about 230-Km southwest of Melbourne.
Three emergency welfare operations were held in which the veterinarians captured and sedated koalas to assess their health. Accordingly, those koalas that were suffering from starvation were euthanized and the healthy ones were set free back into the wild. In addition, the healthy females were treated with control hormone implants.
Koala expert Dr Desley Whisson, from Deakin University, has explained that the problem in the manna gum woodland at Cape Otway began after koalas were introduced to the area in the 1980s from French Island. The manna gum is a very good food source for koalas because it is low in toxins and high in nutrients and, hence, the koalas love it. As a result, they do not move elsewhere for the food supply and their numbers keep increasing.
On a rough estimate, there are up to 11 koalas per hectare in Cape Otway whereas the sustainable density should be less than one koala per hectare.