Koala Conundrum

A
complex and polemic situation. Tourism, preservation of the
ecosystem and cruetly to animals often conflict in panoramas of human
development.

SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) — A koala population explosion on an Australian
island has prompted calls for 20,000 of the furry, native marsupials to
be shot to stop them destroying their island habitat and end a koala famine.

Some 30,000 koalas on Kangaroo Island, off the coast of the state of South
Australia, are stripping the island of its native gum trees, destroying
the ecosystem and causing a koala famine, say environmentalists and national
parks officials.

"We are talking thousands of starving koalas," said Sandra Kanck
from the Australian Democrats, Australia’s third major political party.

"While they may be cute and cuddly we need to get beyond emotion to
reality…my suggestion is professional shooters do it quickly and cleanly," Kanck
told Reuters on Friday of the proposed cull.

The South Australian state government has rejected calls for a cull, preferring
sterilization and relocation.

from Reuters