Australian authorities accused, on Wednesday (22), a landowner and two companies after more than 250 allegations of cruelty to animals for the death of dozens of koalas during a cleanup operation carried out last year.
According to a statement from the Victoria State Conservation Regulator, 21 koalas were found dead and dozens wounded at a timber plantation in Cape Bridgewater, about 370 kilometers southwest of the state capital Melbourne, in February 2020.
Authorities killed 49 of the injured koalas, many of them dying of hunger, dehydration and fractures, the statement said.
A man and an earthmoving company are accused of causing “unreasonable pain or suffering to dozens of koalas,” the statement said. “They are also accused of destroying koalas, which are a protected species.”
They face a total of 126 counts each, including 18 counts of aggravated cruelty for allegedly causing fatal injuries. A cruelty charge was brought against a separate contracting company for allegedly harassing the koala population. The statement did not identify the accused.
The maximum penalty for an animal cruelty charge is nearly $78,000 for a company and over $32,000 or 12 months in prison for an individual.
In a statement at the time, conservation group Friends of the Earth Australia called the incident a “koala massacre”, adding it was “alarmed that such rampant destruction, widespread deaths and injuries continue to plague the Southwest Victorian plantation industry”
Threats to koalas
Koalas are a protected species in Australia and face several threats to their survival. The country’s koala population suffered severe losses during the catastrophic forest fires of 2019, which destroyed more than 48,000 square kilometers of land in New South Wales alone.
More than 60,000 koalas have died, lost their habitat or suffered injuries from the flames, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Experts say the species also faces localized extinctions because of the threat of chlamydia, which causes blindness and painful cysts in a koala’s reproductive tract that can lead to infertility or death.
The climate crisis has made koalas more susceptible to the disease. Chlamydia spreads most quickly through the population under stressful environmental conditions, including hot weather, drought and habitat loss, according to the Australian government.
In mid-2021, an Australian government report on the conservation status of koalas recommended that the animal’s status be changed to “endangered” in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory as a result of rapid population decline. in these areas.
This content was originally created in English.
original version
Reference: CNN Brasil
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