CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Koalas were declared officially endangered Friday in eastern Australia as they fall prey to disease, lost habitat and other threats.
Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley downgraded their conservation status across the country's east coast in Queensland, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, on a recommendation by the government's Threatened Species Scientific Committee.
Earlier they had been listed as a vulnerable species.
Many koalas in Australia suffer from chlamydia. Koala populations in New South Wales have fallen by 33%-61% since 2001. In 2020, a parliamentary inquiry warned the species might become extinct before 2050 without urgent intervention.
A young koala looks through eucalyptus leaves in a zoo in Duisburg, Germany, on Sept. 28, 2018. Koalas have been declared officially endangered in eastern Australia as they fall prey to disease, lost habitat and other threats.
The number of koalas in Queensland has fallen by half since 2001 due to drought, fires and deforestation. Some are killed in attacks by dogs or run over on roads.
"Koalas have gone from no-listing to vulnerable to endangered within a decade. That is a shockingly fast decline," said Stuart Blanch, a conservation scientist with the World Wildlife Fund-Australia.
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"Today's decision is welcome, but it won't stop koalas from sliding toward extinction unless it's accompanied by stronger laws and landholder incentives to protect their forest homes," he said.
The Australian Koala Foundation estimates that there are less than 100,000 koalas left in the wild, possibly as few as 43,000. Summer brushfires in 2019-20 killed at least 6,400 of the animals, as rescuers worked desperately to save them and treat their injuries.
"There have been many pressures on the koala. The Black Summer fires, of course, was a tipping point. But we know the koala is vulnerable to climate change and to disease," Ley told reporters at the Blue Mountains on Friday.
Ley said vaccines to prevent and treat chlamydia among koalas, the use of drones to study them and restoration of habitat are ways to the government is helping protect the vulnerable marsupial.
The government contends that listing koalas as endangered will highlight and help address threats, while conservation groups argue more has to be done to prevent their extinction.
The Australian Koala Foundation has called for legislation to protect them and curb land clearing and mining projects that are wrecking their habitats. It says koalas also are in danger across Victoria and South Australia.
Deborah Tabart, chair of the foundation, said the designation of koalas as endangered was "nothing but a token gesture."
"Behind all the photo opportunities and political rhetoric they (the federal government) continue to approve the destruction of koala habitat," she said.
Photos: Koalas officially declared endangered in Australia
Maggie the female koala climbs a tree with her joey at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, on Sept. 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
In this photo provided by Queensland Police Service and taken on Nov. 6, 2016, a koala looks out from a handbag at a police station in Brisbane, Australia. Australian police made an unusual find while searching the bag of a woman who was being arrested: a baby koala. Police in Brisbane said that when they asked the 50-year-old woman if she had anything to declare, she handed over a zipped canvas bag that she said contained a baby koala. The woman, who was arrested on "outstanding matters," said she found the male koala and had been caring for it.
In this image made from video taken on Dec. 22, 2019, and provided by Oakbank Balhannah CFS, a koala drinks water from a bottle given by a firefighter in Cudlee Creek, South Australia. Thousands of koalas were feared to have died in a wildfire-ravaged area north of Sydney, further diminishing Australia's iconic marsupial.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is seen next to a koala during a tour of Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, on Oct. 16, 2018. (Dominic Lipinski/Pool Photo via AP)
In this Dec. 20, 2019, photo provided by Adam Mudge, koalas sit inside a home in Cudlee Creek, South Australia, after being rescued from fires at a garden. Local firefighters assigned to protect a property from an approaching fire in South Australia helped a homeowner move koalas into her house to keep them safe from the flames. (Adam Mudge via AP)
In this Sept. 23, 2009 photo, head senior keeper Harley Everson returns a baby koala to its mother at the Sydney Wildlife World in Sydney, Australia, after he weighed and check the animal. A study on koalas found an unexpected consequence of habitat loss is a latent disease called chlamydiosis that already affects 50-90 percent of the animals. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
In this image from a video taken Dec. 27, 2019, and provided by @bikebug2019, a koala drinks water, given by a cyclist in Adelaide, Australia. The cyclist was approached by the thirsty koala as a heat wave continued to grip the state. (@bikebug2019 via AP)
A 9-month-old baby koala, left, ventures from his mother at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in Cleveland on May 7, 2010. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)
A koala relaxes on a eucalyptus tree on a sunny warm day at the zoo in Duisburg, Germany, May 22, 2017. Koalas are largely sedentary and sleep up to 20 hours a day. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
A koala, an arboreal Australian marsupial, clings to a tree on the grounds of Parliament House on the National Threatened Species Day in Canberra, Australia, Sept. 7, 2010. The National Threatened Species Day commemorates the day the last known Tasmanian tiger died in 1936, urging the people to conserve other threatened unique species in the country. (AP Photo/Mark Graham)
In this May 20, 2015, file photo, a koala sleeps in its enclosure at the Singapore Zoo. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
A 6-month-old koala hangs onto its mother April 14, 2011, at the Los Angeles Zoo. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd holds Karen, a 4-year-old koala, as he and Commonwealth foreign ministers, not in photo, visit Caversham Wildlife Park in Australia on Oct. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Richard Polden, Pool)
A male koala joey rides on his mother Goonderrah's back at the zoo in Duisburg, western Germany, on March 27, 2013. The little koala left his mother's pouch after six months for the first time. The Duisburg Zoo is one of the major breeding units for koalas in Europe. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
A koala feeds on eucalyptus leaves in its new enclosure at the Singapore Zoo on May 20, 2015. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
The male koala Oobi-Ooobi predicts Germany to be the winner of the Euro 2016 soccer match between Germany and Poland. At the Leipzig Zoo in Leipzig, central Germany, he took out the eucalyptus branch from the glass with the German flag. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)
A young koala takes a ride on its mother Eora at the zoo in Duisburg, Germany, on Jan. 17, 2019. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Maggie the female koala climbs a tree with her joey at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, Sept. 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
Queen Elizabeth II, left, and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, second left, view koalas named Nivea and Sprite that are held by wildlife officers Karen Nilsson, second right, and Jaqui Brumm, right, during a tour of Rain Bank, in Brisbane, Australia, on Oct. 24, 2011. The queen was on her first visit to Australia since 2006. (AP Photo/ Lyndon Mechielsen, Pool)
A seven-month-old female baby koala holds onto a toy koala as she is weighed at Duisburg Zoo, Germany, on Dec. 21, 2011. The young koala left her mother's pouch for the first time, enabling a zookeeper to weigh her. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
A koala clings to a tree on the grounds of Parliament House on the National Threatened Species Day in Canberra, Australia, on Sept. 7, 2010. The National Threatened Species Day commemorates the day the last known Tasmanian tiger died in 1936, urging the people to conserve other threatened unique species in the country. (AP Photo/Mark Graham)
