Warning issued!!

[millzee]

[h2o 1]

Dropbear deterrent! Forks in your hair,Vegemite behind your ears and as a last resort,piss on yourself! LOL!

[twissted]

I eat a lot of garlic. No sex life! But I'm alive! Lol!

[kfxguy]

Wtf?

[Fella1340]

Double Wtf

[Oexak]

So cute yet so fearful.

[mekzoid]

Gotta be careful of these buggers here in Australia. They jump down when you least expect it!

[drwayne]

Can be feral as a grizzly bear, yet these guys appear small, super cute, ever so timid and appealing.
Dont be fooled by what you see on media.. in wild these guys will rip you a new a-hole.

Hand raised/domesticated are nice and cuddly though :) .. still wouldnt walk beneath one.

[mekzoid]

Hand raised/domesticated are nice and cuddly though :) .. still wouldnt walk beneath one.

Have you seen the paperwork the carers need to go through to actually obtain the licenses to handle these things?

[drwayne]

There's a handful of licensed people here in South Oz.
They're also registered members of http://www.ava.com.au
Kaolas are herbivoru.. only eat plant matter.. but if they feel threatened.. :shock: coz they're usually so timid, they scare easy.
Every few years there's a cull ..and territories are cleansed of them.
Kangaroo Island ( south of the state Im in ) has few native predators against these..
Natural predators Goanna and Pirenti ( Fn big carnivorous lizards some 3→6ft long ) cannot keep bear numbers down coz they hide up trees .. we used to get bag limits per night .. paid for lots of beer !
Now it's park rangers only because the safety issues.. .. they say it's becoz the beer, we know it's coz the bears.

[Fella1340]

Koala bear kulls,you just dont hear about that in the media! The lizard is there only predtor? I thought you had some real mean s--t over there. My best friend is an Aussie, been in Canada for 20+ years but used to farm. you guys got some cool snakes. He has photos of a dead snake, lying accross the road. Neither head or tail are visqble thats how big they get! Surly the kaola bear has more predators!

[drwayne]

Poisonous snakes only attack big critters if the snake is threatened.. never heard of Kaola bears attacking a snake... a truce perhaps ?
Your mate's road width snake is a likely a python from Queensland's NorthEastern forests.. famous for squishing prey to death before swallowing whole ....they're known to slide into houses at night to devour little prey.. it's why most everybody there has dogs.
Earlier this year was media about an infant taken. sad stuff.

Kaolas of Kangaroo Island: A Race Against Time

LEARNING LEVEL

Upper Primary, Junior Secondary

CURRICULUM RELEVANCE

Science, Biology


PROGRAMME DESCRIPTION FOR TEACHERS

Kangaroo Island lies some 13 km from the tip of South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula. Protected by the Southern Ocean's storm-tossed waters, the island is home to some of Australia’s most popular native wildlife. Kangaroos, wallabies, kaolas, echidnas, sea lions, fur seals, leafy sea dragons and numerous other species have all found a niche in this isolated island environment. But Kangaroo Island has a dark secret unknown to most people. Its kaola population is a feral pest which is having a devastating impact on the native flora and fauna of this unique, natural paradise.

In 1920, as a precaution to stop Australia's diminishing koala population from going extinct, 18 kaolas were introduced to Kangaroo Island from the mainland. Today, that population has multiplied to a massive total of 27,000. Without careful management, the island’s environment will be changed forever.


BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR TEACHERS

Thanks to a wide range of habitats and relatively few introduced pests, Kangaroo Island is one of the world's last unspoiled island wildernesses. While the kaola is rarely considered as a feral species, it has unfortunately become a major threat to the balance of life on Kangaroo Island. Kaolas love fresh, juicy leaves, especially the regrowth at very tops of trees. As a consequence of exploding numbers of kaolas picking the freshest leaves, targeted trees suffocate and die. The trees' inability to regenerate impacts all the native animals that depend on them, including parrots, possums, wrens, bees and many other tree dwellers.
Kaolas are turning carnivorous to supplement their diet

Moreover, the kaolas' preferred eucalyptus trees on Kangaroo Island are the rough-bark manna gum and the South Australian blue gum, both riparian species that hold the island's myriad creek and river banks in place. Continued wholesale destruction would not only wipe out these trees but cause widespread erosion, adding to the degradation of the island's ancient inland ravines and gullies.

Kangaroo Island's limited space means there simply isn’t enough food for the kaolas to survive. In the near future the Kangaroo Island kaolas will probably starve to death. It’s a race against time to save them. Culling kaolas was the first, dramatic step taken towards controlling their ever-increasing population, but this was quickly met with a huge outcry. Australians questioned how they could kill their ‘native’ fluffy koala bears and destroy such a high-profile international mascot for the continent.

[mekzoid]

In all seriousness though, Too many things can kill us over here.

[drwayne]

Here in the middle of my state's capital city those native dangers include redback spiders, white tip spiders, brown snakes, black snakes.. remembering 1777 was first fleet landing into Australia.. we have a long way to go before boundaries are defined between native fauna and us scaredy critters...
The growing immigrant population with little/no understanding the dangers of the bush are ever fearful...rightly so.

that's it kids, class is over.

[Fella1340]

A really good read and a hard but obvious decision has to made. The koalas dont belong on the island if they were introduced and not native. I am sure there was an outcry, they are cute little fellas. The problem is the people that cant handle the truth of what needs to be done. They continue to protest and offer no viable solutions to the problem which in my opinion makes them the problem to. North America is facing a huge number of major crises from non-native species that have made there way here on boats, illegal importation etc.
We have an Asian beetle that has made its way into our forests and is killing off huge numbers of our deciduous trees. Years later and the best we can do is burn any infected trees and those in the same area. A losing battle that all we can do is slow down.
Our great lakes are infested with zebra mussels. You cant walk a beach in your barefeet anymore, from discovery of them in our lakes until total infestation was only a few years. These have ruined our great lakes and are moving further north all the time. The US is battling these Asian flying fish, a carp like fish. Considered a delicacy to some, large growing ponds were setup to raise this foreign species. a large flood washed out the ponds and many made there way into the Mississippi river. These bottom feeders have complety devastated hundreds of miles of the river. They have over run and are consuming our native species food source to the point there is nothing left. They are almost to the great lakes. Millions are being spent to stop the invasion of these fish. Its basically down to the last line defence, a Damm with electrified fence to stop them getting into the great lakes. Its just a matter of time. These three things alone are destoying the ecological balance I ways we wont understand for years to come. Ecology Armageddon is underway. This all use to be big news and little is heard about it now. Check out Mississippi flying carp and youll see the problem. Parts of the once great river are very dangerous to navigate by boat. The sound of the prop wash causes them to jump and many people have been knocked the f--k out and worse. Its crazy to see what has happened. They spawn like crazy with no natural predators the population is so far out of control and little to look forward to with no real answers.
The koala problem has a viable option, open season on koala until the balance is restored and hopefully given time the island can heal itself. I dont like the solution but if it was a roo problem would it even make the news? Hopefully some people take the time to educate thesse bleeding hearts so they can understand its a bigger picture than a few dead trees. From reading your post dr. Wayne it leaves an impression that koala behavior is changing to the point they are become part carnivore in order to feed themselves? These dont seem like good candidates to transplant to other locations either then. (like you could move 25000 plus of the little buggers! I will stop now, sorry for the ramble. I recently had back surgery and the pain medication makes me do it! Its quite the stuff,definatly not able to.drive when like this!