Australians sell their homes to make way for koalas
Australians sell their homes to make way for koalas
Some 150 Australian homeowners have offered to sell their properties to make way for the country's dwindling koala population under a £15 million government buyback scheme.
By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney
10:53AM GMT 08 Nov 2012
The Queensland government has offered to buy properties to expand koala habitats amid concerns urban sprawl has caused a 40 per cent drop in the state's koala population. The land is due to be converted to national parks and nature refuges.
Earlier this year, prime minister Julia Gillard's government listed the koala as a threatened species in New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory because of fears it is under threat from cars, dogs, disease and urban expansion. Some researchers have warned that koalas could disappear from some parts of the country within five to 10 years.
Queensland, where koala numbers have dropped the most, introduced a scheme to purchase properties "in areas where [koalas'] territory is under significant pressure". The state government has offered to pay "a fair market price" and says 150 landholders have now applied to sell their properties.
"We have allocated $AUS22.5 million over the next three years to buy land and expand koala habitat in areas where their territory is under significant pressure," the environment minister, Andrew Powell, said earlier this month.
More:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/9663567/Australians-sell-their-homes-to-make-way-for-koalas.html
