KoalaTracker Blog

I pity the staff of Department of Environment & Heritage Protection (DEHP) charged with managing wildlife, ecosystems and sustainability, for the conflict the Queensland government has now established in policy with the Mines Minister announcing changes to the Vegetation Management Framework.  In the name of ‘greentape reduction’, significant land will be open to wide scale clearing of regrowth and remnant vegetation.   More

Some months ago I alerted members by email to this upcoming documentary which we thought would air on ABC at the end of last year, but is now to air on National Geographic later this year. More

Everything you can read on koalas will tell you they only eat eucalyptus leaves.  It’s what we know. More

I don’t know why it is, but cows kill koalas.  More

Ecotourism is the fastest growing sector of the world’s largest service industry.  It doesn’t rate a mention in Tourism Australia’s current strategy.  More

One of the wonderful benefits of membership to KoalaTracker is the element of education. The koala is such an important economic asset (the biggest drawcard for inbound tourism), an environmental indicator, and iconic of Australia’s unique wildlife, it continues to astound me how little we know about it. More

While state governments progress with undoing the Howard government's reigning in of gun ownership, allowing unsupervised hunting by 12 year olds, and proceed to allow hunting in our national parks (see list), all governments remain weak at the knees with regard to outlawing the slaughter of dugongs, turtles and the rare snubnose dolphin. These animals are allowed to be killed under Native Title laws, giving indigenous Australians the right to kill endangered and vulnerable wildlife.  More

It wasn’t just a hit and run, but a possible cruel and deliberate trophy hunt.  More

The long-time regular members of KoalaTracker are aware of the time I have dedicated to this project.  What few realise is that the direct cost to me in creating this national koala mapping portal now exceeds more than $180,000 (as of November 2012), inclusive of real out-of-pocket expenditure and time volunteered, sometimes at the expense of other work. The personal cost has been great, but it remains a project that I passionately believe is important.  More

The federal government’s Atlas of Living Australia has more than 27,000 koala sighting reports, but with only 64 since the start of 2010, the Atlas, as it pertains to koalas, is an historic rather than living record.  More