Australian conservation groups have renewed calls for koalas to be declared an endangered species months after horrific bushfires devastated the vulnerable population and their habitat.
Almost half of Australia's koala population is believed to have perished during this summer's bushfires, which scorched millions of hectares of forests and national parks, greatly impacting the species which was declared vulnerable eight years ago.
A new analysis from the World Wide Fund for Nature has found since 2012.
“We're shocked and horrified, it seems that koala habitat is going at a huge pace and the department in Canberra is doing nothing about it essentially," WWF's Protected Areas and Conservation Science Manager, Martin Taylor, said.
A wildlife carer attends to a koala whose habitat was destroyed by fire. Source: AAP
The analysis found land clearing increased in Queensland by seven per cent after 2012, compared to a number of years before.
And in New South Wales, the average annual hectares of land cleared has risen by around 32 per cent since koalas were declared vulnerable.
The organisation said thousands of koalas have died as a result.
“Koalas are one species that is dependent on the forests of Eastern Australia but we have many other species that are also threatened by both the fires and by the destruction of their habitat: gliders, possums, wallabies, many reptiles,” Mr Taylor said.
Last month, after a report from the International Fund for Animal Welfare found it likely at least 5,000 koalas died in the New South Wales fires.
Koalas had already been under stress from land clearing, urban development and the drought with the state's population declining by between 30 and 67 per cent since 2001, the report found.
President of the conservation group Friends of the Koala Ros Irwin backed WWF's calls for koalas' status to be updated from vulnerable to endangered.
The organisation also wants an independent national Environmental Protection Authority to be established.
“They're very aware of their habitat they know where it is and when it's removed they become incredibly stressed and it is the stress that actually activates the diseases such as chlamydia and retrovirus, which are fatal for koalas,” Ms Ros said.
Environment Minister Sussan Ley said she had asked the Threatened Species Scientific Committee to consider "whether the status of the koala should be reassessed" following the bushfires.
A review of Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation laws is also underway, with submissions to close on 17 April.
