Another famous koala - from Norman Lindsay's Magic Pudding
"Sam, we were all so glad to hear of your rescue, which gave us hope that the world would realise the plight of you and your fellow koalas and other wildlife in Australia and that our politicians might then wake up. We enjoyed seeing that you had made a friend at the wildlife shelter and it seemed that your future looked comparatively rosey. We are now so sorry to hear that you are no longer with us."
-- Ed.Candobetter
Sam was actually a female koala and, soon after she was rescued, she became fast friends with a male koala who was recovering in the same shelter.
Sam was a victim of controlled burning, not of 'bushfire'
Sam was a victim of the practice of "controlled burning-off" to prevent bushfires. She was not actually a victim of an out of control bushfire. Burning-off is a practice of which the frequency is criticised soundly and scientifically here. In many cases it benefits loggers and land-clearers. Managed and thinned forests are overwhelmingly more frequently linked to uncontrollable bushfires than old growth forests. There is a case for burning off on ridges which are prone to lightening attacks, but, as writers argue in these pages, we should use an entirely different approach to fighting fires in Australia.
Although Sam became known, admired, and undoubtedly loved, by millions of people, due to the terrible fires last February in which hundreds of people died and over a million native animals died, she actually succumbed to chlamydia.
Chlamydia in koalas
Chlamydia is a disease which was found to be epidemic in a number of koala populations about 20 years ago. Since then, the mixing up of different populations in new places in an effort to save the species from extinction due to traditional habitat destruction, has probably contributed to a rise in the incidence of infections. Stress in its own right is also an obvious likely factor in the prevalence, seriousness and chronicity of this illness.
Chlamydia bacteria occur in many different animals, including humans. In koalas clamydia can infect the urinary tract the genetical tract and the respiratory tract. It may cause infertility and blindness and the animal may die from these. They get pink rimmed eyes and cannot keep themselves clean due to incontinence.Source:
How safe are koalas in Australia?
Koalas only live on the South and South Eastern coast of Australia and most wildlife carers consider them in danger everywhere. Unfortunately the way that animals are classified as threatened and endangered in Australia means that you have to wait until the entire population of koalas Australia-wide is on the brink of extinction. Meanwhile, as we head quickly towards this situation, local and regional populations are being extinguished with barely a protest registered in the mainstream media and with only the merest token gestures from parliamentarians.
Wildlife Carers finance most of their work themselves, with little help and much hindrance from the government. People around the world who may read this: please place pressure on our Australian State and Federal governments to start protecting our wildlife instead of killing them through neglect or demonised as 'pests'.
In some cases koalas are endangered by being marooned by human development, so that they cannot get out and they exhaust the food trees where they are boxed in and die of starvation, fighting and disease. Throwing animals together from different populations, without a normal population structure means that these artificially created new colonies lack brakes on reproduction which occur normally through incest avoidance and the Westermarck effect.
However, the greatest direct killer is loss of habitat due to suburban development. This loss of habitat is driven by the growth lobby which has caused Australia to become severely overpopulated to the extent that we are now running out of water and land for farming and for wildlife is being stolen for human development. This means less water and less land for animals and forests.
Koalas are also killed by dogs, humans, stepped on by cattle, and run down by cars.
Brigitte Bardot's site has a very good page on this, devoted to Victoria's Mornington Peninsula Wildlife carer, Jenny Bryant's Koala Refuge.
But koalas are also loved by many Australians
As you can see from this page
In Australia one of our most famous books was Norman Lindsay's The Magic Pudding, where the hero was a Koala called Bunyip Bluegum, who left his home because he couldn't stand sharing it with his untidy uncle.
This picture shows him eating outside to avoid watching his uncle drag his whiskers in his soup. You can see that Bunyip is being importuned by two small goannas, who want hand-outs.
Comments
Vivienne (not verified)
Fri, 2009-08-07 12:16
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He was a mascot for the plight of Victorian animals!
Sam's demise represents the plight of koalas and many native species. The story is the same - loss of habitat, feral plants and animals, urban development, poisons, stress, disease and road kill. Our governments give scant recognition to indigenous Australian species, and wildlife are "collateral damage" of development and "progress", not significant enough casualties to really make an impact on the economy and growth! Without continuous wildlife corridors, their genetic diversity and survival cannot be assured.
At least Sam became famous, and had loving care. He was a mascot for the plight of Victorian animals, and with another heavy fire season ahead, how safe will the rest of the koalas and other native animals be?
Vivienne (not verified)
Sun, 2009-08-09 10:39
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Apologies to Sam!
Tigerquoll
Fri, 2009-08-07 15:16
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What chance when the annual burn target is 385,000 hectares?
What hope does Australia's wildlife have when bush arson lobbyists like MAX RHEESE [Secretary of Victorian Lands Alliance] in his article in 'Weekly Times Now' call for a massive increase in slashing and burning more of Victoria's wildlife habitat. In Rheese article he is advocating for Victorian bushfire authorities to implement an annual fuel reduction burn target of 385,000 hectares. 'Nip fire in the bud, and now' [6-Aug-09] This equates to 62 km x 62km of bush.
To demonise Australian wildlife habitat as 'fuel' is narrow-minded, vandalistic and counter-productive . To claim that 'fuel-reduction burning' is "the most important preventative tool we have to combat fire disaster and reduce fire intensity" is blind ignorance. The 'No Fuel No fire' campaign by The Victorian Land Allliance is a simplistic 'one-size-fits-all' approach to the complex problems of bushfire management, prevention and suppression - it ignores the complexity of fire ecology and wildlife ecology - the home and livelihood of Australian wildlife.
Broadscale deliberate slashing and burning has been scientifically shown to be a fundamentally flawed approach. It fails to prevent ember attack. It changes the vegetation to becoming even more susceptibe for future fires and larger fires. It is a cop out to the fact that DSE fails to meet performance standards to quickly detect, respond to and suppress ignitions when they do occur. Bushfire authorities haven't got an Australian fauna zoologist among them to know the impact of deliberate burning has on native wildlife. Where are the wildlife statistics?
'Nip fire in the bud, and now' ought to be the motto of Australian bushfire fighting. Once bushfire fighting gets that into their heads - lives, property and wildlife may have a chance!
Sheila Newman
Fri, 2009-08-07 19:32
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The facts on the fires
Tigerquoll
Sat, 2009-08-08 00:12
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Cause and lifecycle of each ignition: a key duty of Commission
Sheila Newman
Sat, 2009-08-08 02:12
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flammability important as well as cause of ignition because ...
Tigerquoll
Sat, 2009-08-08 23:21
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Commission - a token minimum to quell reactive public dissent
Sheila Newman
Sun, 2009-08-09 00:07
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Need for a Peoples' Commission & Climate change activism
Duane (not verified)
Mon, 2009-08-10 11:05
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The next BIG fires will take out the whole state
Tigerquoll
Mon, 2009-08-10 13:00
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Scorched the earth before the sky falls in?
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