The drive to build more homes to ease Sydney’s housing crisis is having devastating consequences for Koalas living on the city’s fringes. A report had found the endangered animals are being pushed out of their habitat and onto the roads in increasing numbers. In Campbelltown, in Sydney’s south-west, it is estimated that around half of the Koala population has been hit by a car in the past five-years and koala numbers are in decline.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00We're heading south on the Appen Road.
00:07This is where Sydney's suburban sprawl meets koala habitat.
00:12And for the koalas, it's a death zone.
00:16This is probably the worst area in Campbelltown for koala crossings.
00:22The koalas need to cross this road to travel between the Georges River and the Nepean.
00:28But it's a journey that is becoming increasingly hazardous.
00:32Do you happen to know how many koalas have been hit here?
00:35In the last generation, it's been 18, yeah, just in this stretch.
00:41Fencing has been put up alongside the road.
00:45But there are gaps where koalas are getting through and then becoming trapped on the road.
00:51All the way along here, land is being cleared for new developments.
00:57Everything you can see here, all those paddocks, is going to have housing in it for as far as the eye can see.
01:06As work gets underway, traffic is increasing.
01:10You've had rapid housing development happen here, urban sprawl, that has been directly on koala habitat.
01:19And it's changing the way that koalas are having to move across the landscape.
01:25And they're taking a lot more risks.
01:28This part of Yakin Road is a major crossing point for koalas.
01:33At the moment, the road is being widened from two lanes to four to allow access for a new housing development.
01:41But an underpass to allow koalas to get across the road safely is still under construction.
01:47We know these koalas, they're coming in, you know, the rare koalas that do survive are having to go back to these areas and just getting hit again.
02:00This adult male koala was hit by a car in November.
02:05He has fractures to his arm and collarbone.
02:08Today he came back in for a reassessment and x-rays because the carer noticed that he's not gripping as well with that arm that was fractured.
02:15Vets here at the Wildlife Hospital in Camden say they sometimes treat three or four cases like this a week.
02:22We do see a lot of koalas that have been hit by a car, especially as they've been getting pushed out to the road and into suburban areas where they're not normally found.
02:30Very few of these koalas survive.
02:33I do think we need more wildlife corridors and I think they need to be put in place before the actual original habitat is being disrupted.
02:42Because they need to be able to move before they get disrupted.
02:46This patient is gaining weight, but unless his grip strength improves, he won't be able to be released back into the wild.
02:55Unfortunately, we would probably have to put him to sleep.
02:59There's a couple of scratch marks here.
03:01Local resident Les Sheerim is a keen koala spotter.
03:06We're losing koalas regularly now in Campbelltown during roadkill.
03:11He says the roads will only get busier as the new developments take shape.
03:16They're clearing land at an alarming rate now. Of course we need more housing, but at what cost?
03:22The government says it's working to reduce koala deaths.
03:26Transport has seen improvements since new koala exclusion fencing was installed on Appin Road.
03:32And we expect koala strikes will reduce once all mitigation measures are installed, including two new underpasses.
03:40Advocates say there's an added reason to protect the Campbelltown koalas.
03:46With chlamydia infections rife across the state, they're the last population to remain disease free.
03:53They could be the key, they should be the key to the recovery of the species.
04:00To be able to stop and keep up with all of these diseases, they may be the key to the C-8-8-3-1-1 to increase the loss of its land.
04:07They're little bit more inches like that.
04:09They have to be the key to the B-9-7-6-1-1 to the coala side to theưu.
04:11They are also able to stop in the public domain.
04:13In the beginning, they will be the second place where they can keep an eye on and then take care of the importance of the group.
04:15They can't keep an eye on.
04:16They're awesome.
04:17I don't believe that they can keep an eye on.