Koala declared endangered as disease, lost habitat take toll

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Koalas have been declared officially endangered in eastern Australia as they succumb to disease, lost habitat and other threats. Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley downgraded their conservation status across the country’s east coast on the recommendation of the government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee. Koala populations in New South Wales have fallen by 33%-61% since 2001. In 2020, a parliamentary inquiry warned the species might become extinct before 2050 without urgent intervention. Summer brushfires in 2019-20 killed at least 6,400 koalas. Leys said vaccines to prevent and treat chlamydia among koalas, the use of drones to study them and restoration of habitat are ways the government is helping protect the vulnerable marsupial.