Kangaroo Island, which sits a few miles off the coast of South Australia, is widely renowned by the scientific community as an ecological haven. Separated from the mainland around 10,000 years ago by rising seas, the island environment has facilitated the evolution of species that can’t be found anywhere else in the world. The terrain is rugged and lush, providing habitat for abundant wildlife.
Tourists, meanwhile, tend to visit Kangaroo Island for a very similar reason. As its name suggests, Kangaroo Island is a fantastic place to see kangaroos in the wild. However, another animal, the koala, might have an even greater draw for tourists looking to observe some cute and cuddly wild animals.
Unfortunately, due to the bushfires of 2020, a massive portion of the koala population on Kangaroo Island has been lost along with their habitats. And while you might think that the local government would want to do everything in its power to restore their population, many are hoping that the population will never return to its former size.
Of course, the idea of koalas dying in a fire is horrific, and no one would ever hope that an animal would suffer in such a way, but the question of whether or not koalas belong on Kangaroo Island is a complicated one. They’ve been a significant tourist attraction on the island that’s been profitable for many local businesses, but their presence has serious ecological consequences and, after some debate in the Kangaroo Island community, it seems that there may be no effort made to help restore koala populations on the island.
The 2020 Bushfires
I visited Kangaroo Island in 2017 and I was mesmerized by the island’s landscape and abundance of wildlife. I had never seen a kangaroo, wallaby, or koala in my life, and all three of these animals could be seen everywhere. At night, we would lie on a trampoline outside and shine a flashlight in the field around us. There would be seemingly endless herds of kangaroos and wallabies in all directions. During the day, you could hear a symphony of bird songs, and every bush was rustling with some living thing. It was clear from the moment I arrived to the moment I left Kangaroo Island, when I took the SeaLink ferry back to the mainland and watched a group of dolphins play in the wake, that this island was a truly special place.
The bushfires at the beginning of 2020 were the largest in the island’s recorded history, consuming up to 46% of the island’s land. Obviously, this took a devastating toll on the island’s plant and animal populations. While many of the plant species on Kangaroo Island, such as the yucca plant, actually rely on bushfires to propagate, ecologists fear that the bushfires of 2020 were so hot that they may have actually burned the seed banks lying beneath the soil, which could prevent these plants from being able to regrow. These plants also provide important habitats for local wildlife, and so the devastating effects of these fires may persist for many years to come.
One of the many animals who sustained a massive population loss was the koalas. Some have estimated that as many as 55,000 koalas died in the fires, leaving only between 5,000 and 10,000 still alive. The koalas that remain are still in trouble, however, as most of the Tasmanian blue gum trees that provide their habitat have been burned down. Today, if you see a living Tasmanian blue gum tree, you’re likely to see around 6 to 8 koalas living in it, with some trees hosting as many as 30.
While this decimation of the koala population is certainly sad, some suggest that it might actually be a step forward for Kangaroo Island’s ecological health. Koalas have been a real problem on the island for nearly a century now, and their presence has had serious negative impacts on the native species.
How could these adorable animals be considered pests by anyone? And why would anyone possibly consider it a good thing that many of them died?
The Koala Problem
During my time on Kangaroo Island, I was extremely surprised by some of the locals’ opinions about koalas. Many people seemed to resent their presence on the island, and some even suggested that they should be exterminated. And now, with so many of them having been killed in the bushfires, many locals are hoping that they never repopulate.
As hard as it may be to believe, koalas are pests on Kangaroo Island. They are not a native species. In the 1920s, 18 disease-free koalas were brought over to Kangaroo Island from French Island in Victoria. During the time, koala populations on the mainland were dwindling due to the fur trade, and environmentalists were hoping that they could grow a sizable population on Kangaroo Island and then reintroduce them to the mainland. Then, things got out of control.
Since their introduction to the island, the koala population has grown out of control. Before the fires, there were at least 60,000 koalas on Kangaroo Island, and they were wreaking havoc on the local vegetation. In fact, the population had grown so large that the Tasmanian blue gum tree population, the koalas’ main food source, was declining rapidly. Koalas were threatening to destroy their own habitats by overeating. Tasmanian blue gum trees also provide important habitat for many of the native species on Kangaroo Island and also prevent soil erosion, so the koalas’ destruction of these trees had a profound negative impact on the ecosystem as a whole.
In the 1990s, a controversial koala sterilization program was started to try to reduce their population growth. The program had some impact, but the koala population continued to grow, and the degradation of the overall ecosystem continued. To worsen the problem, Kangaroo Island is home to many gum tree plantations. With an abundance of trees to provide food and a habitat for the koalas, they propagated at an extremely quick rate.
There were efforts to relocate some of the koalas from Kangaroo Island and have them breed with the mainland population. However, they proved largely ineffective due to the fact that Kangaroo Island koalas are so highly inbred that it would have a negative effect on the genetic diversity of the mainland population.
The koalas of Kangaroo Island are unique in that they are disease-free. Unlike mainland populations that are plagued by chlamydia, which can cause infertility and blindness if left untreated, Kangaroo Island koalas are all descended from a disease-free founder population, and so the disease has never spread on the island. Some scientists believe that the Kangaroo Island population may be important for helping koala populations on the mainland survive.
Aftermath of the Fire
With nearly half of Kangaroo Island burned in the bushfires and the massive loss of wildlife, the debate over how to deal with the koalas living on Kangaroo Island has become especially prevalent. Some are arguing that we should be helping the koalas to repopulate, while others are saying we should do as little to help them as possible. One thing is for certain, with all of the gum plantations that were burned during the fire, the koala population will not be able return to its former size for a very long time.
After the fires, a great deal of support was raised for the recovery effort. Australia’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals attempted to recruit 120 volunteers to aid in the effort and ended up getting over 13,000 applications. Over $2.5 million was raised by online crowdfunding for the recovery effort. However, locals have been debating where exactly to allocate these resources.
While the tourism industry on the island profits heavily from the presence of koalas, conservationists believe that all resources should be diverted to preserving native species. Dunnart populations on Kangaroo Island are almost completely gone, the Tammar wallabies on Kangaroo Island are some of the last of their kind in South Australia, the glossy black cockatoo is an endangered species, and the Ligurian bees on Kangaroo Island are believed to be the last remaining genetically pure population in the world. Thus, many are calling for all resources to be used to aid the repopulation of these species rather than for the repopulation of koalas, who were not supposed to be on the island in the first place.
Final Thoughts
The devastation that these bushfires brought to the koala population of Kangaroo Island, and to the ecosystem of the island as a whole, is heartbreaking. And while it may seem harsh for someone to take the approach that koala populations should not be helped, it’s important to remember that they are probably not driven by disdain for koalas, but by concern for the rest of the ecosystem. I believe that most people on either side of this debate have generally good intentions, but as with any debate, there are two sides to every story.
Kangaroo Island represents one of the most important pockets of biodiversity in the world, and we need to do all we can to protect it. However, many people on Kangaroo Island have built their lives around the tourism industry that relies heavily on the presence of koalas. And this is not a purely science-versus-profit debate. Some scientists suggest that saving the Kangaroo Island population could be necessary for the survival of Australia’s koalas on the mainland, while others argue that allowing koalas to repopulate Kangaroo island could doom the local ecosystem. It’s a complicated question, and whatever happens, it’s going to leave certain groups of people disgruntled.