photo by Miguel Villalobos
illustration by Miguell Villalobos
https://www.savethekoala.com/donate.html
Dear Shaded Viewers,
Two hundred years ago there were millions of koalas, 6 years ago there were 80 thousand of them now there are 43,000 koalas in all of Australia. Land developers are cutting down their food trees (eucalyptus leaves), their population is being ravaged by chlamydia which can cause blindness, pneumonia, urinary tract infections, and reproductive tract infections which can cause female infertility, it is Koala AIDS. 50 – 80% of the marsupials are infected with chlamydia, they are dying in bush fires, run over by cars and killed by dogs. WIth all this happening to them there is increased stress on the koalas which makes them more susceptible to disease. When their habitat is cleared for roads and housing estates cars and dogs become a serious threat to the koalas. Over 4,000 koalas are killed each year by cars and dogs. Researchers are working on a vaccine, it may arrive too late. The vaccine could harm the animal's specialized digestive tract, which contains healthy bacteria that break down their diet rich in eucalyptus leaves. The koalas are estimated to have a $1 billion impact on the tourism industry so the plight of the Koala and chlamydia is not very well known outside of Australia. The average life-span of an adult male koala is ten years but the average survival rate for a dispersing sub-adult male living near a highway or a housing estate is closer to two or three years. Since European settlement, approximately 80% of Australia's eucalypt forests have been decimated. Of the remaining 20% almost none is protected and most occurs on privately-owned land. You can help, you can donate to plant a tree, 1 tree 10 AUD, 5 trees= 50 AUD, 20 trees= 180 AUD. you can adopt a joey, baby koala, 20 AUD a month, you can adopt a mum & a Joey for 30 AUD a month, 80% of their habitats are gone, they are vulnerable and at great risk, koalas in the wild need our help. NO TREE, NO ME….
photo by Miguel Villalobos
