Wildlife advocates from across the state including those from Ballarat will be holding a rally outside the premier's office demanding greater protection for koalas in Victoria this Friday.
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Several organisations will be participating in the protest such as the Ballarat Wildlife Rehabilitation Conservation and Wombat Forest Care.
The groups are aiming to present to the premier's office a set of ten "koala commandments" including the government to commit to "immediately ceasing all native forest logging" and funding "a comprehensive support package for koala carers and rescuers".
Ballarat Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation member Jessica Robertson said stakeholders were also pushing to see the release of the state's Koala Management Strategy which is listed as commandment number eight.
"The last Koala Management Strategy for Victoria was written in 2004 and has not been updated since then. A draft is available, and the final was promised in August 2022 but has not been released," Ms Robertson said.
"Of all the states in Australia where koalas live, Victoria is the only without a current Koala Management Strategy. What are they hiding?
"The government currently has no strategy for how to deal with the tens of thousands of koalas dependent on blue gum plantations in the south west. Plantation harvesting continues every day, killing koalas, leaving thousands of koalas homeless with no habitat.
"They've known about this problem for a decade and still, there is no strategy to save them."
Heidi Johnson is another member of Ballarat Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation. She said the largest threat to koala populations in the region is habitat loss.
"All the ones (koalas) that we've rescued this year, it's all been from car strikes and sadly, most of them have either had to be euthanized or they've died in the vets arms because their injuries were just too severe and the reason they're the moving is because there's been so much clearing and loss of their habitat," Ms Johnson said.
She said she wanted a more concerted effort from the City of Ballarat in following through on their Koala Overlay plan.
"Council on their website has a koala protection policy which is supposed to be followed but what is happening is they're not actually following it," Ms Johnson said.
"It seems as if the only time it does get applied is when members of the community notice what's going on and lodge an objection and turn up at the meeting.
"So what we want is that policy to be properly updated."
IN THE NEWS:
The rally will be held at 517 Princes Highway Service Road, Noble Park from 12-1:30pm on November 18.
For more details click here.
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Malvika Hemanth
Malvika has a strong interest in covering stories on welfare, cost of living pressures and the arts. She works on the unceded lands of the Wadawurrung people and pays her respect to elders past, present and emerging.
Malvika has a strong interest in covering stories on welfare, cost of living pressures and the arts. She works on the unceded lands of the Wadawurrung people and pays her respect to elders past, present and emerging.
