The sad reason Australia's dwindling koala population is under threat
The NSW Government has revealed its 'road kill' numbers are increasing per year despite having special tunnels, bridges and fencing in place to avoid coming into contact with wildlife. One of the many incidents where an innocent koala was killed, took place was in 2017 and it was recorded on video.
The heartbreaking footage shows a young koala trapped inside St Helena tunnel, near Byron Bay in NSW, as it attempts to crawl to safety but sadly does not make it in time.
The driver, who refused to follow tunnel operators’ instructions as they attempted to save the koala’s life, merges into the closed lane, giving the poor koala no chance.
The video, which is one of many in the ‘road kill’ files belonging to the State Government, was obtained under freedom of information laws from NSW Roads and Maritime Services (RMS).
The files, which highlight where koalas are being killed around NSW, includes five years of incident reports from the Pacific Highway, where 68 koalas have been killed to date.
With dozens of koalas being killed every year, their population is lessening on the NSW north coast, and they are being classified as ‘locally endangered’.
The video shows the event that happened after an RMS tunnel operator saw “something flapping” on a surveillance camera.
The operator realised the object was an injured koala after zooming in to the footage.
The report states that around 3:00am: “The tunnel operators turned the UHF radio on Channel 29 and questioned why the truck driver had disobeyed traffic directions and ran over the animal. [The] truck driver brushed it off stating there is no need to rescue the animal now.”
The tunnel was then shut down for incoming traffic as rescue volunteers attempted to recover the koala's body.
According to the ABC, no charges were made against the truck driver for failing to listen to instructions or for killing the koala.
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