What! Culling Koalas in Response to Climate Change?

I received an email this week from a concerned woman in Italy. Paola had just read that Australia, a so-called world leader in biodiversity conservation, is shooting hundreds of koalas from helicopters. She was heartbroken. I am too.

Last month, Victoria's Government conducted an aerial cull of around 700 koalas in Budj Bim National Park. Their justification was that the koalas were starving after bushfires tore through the Park over a year ago in 2024.

Yes, the koalas were suffering. But the decision to shoot them from helicopters is a devastating symptom of a much bigger problem: Australia is failing to address the root causes of biodiversity loss, habitat destruction and climate breakdown. And we’re normalising morally indefensible responses.

Climate change isn’t a reason to cull koalas - it’s a reason to take action

Australia's koalas are already fighting for survival. Habitat clearing and fragmentation from foresty, agriculture, mining and housing is decimating their bushland homes. Diseases like chlamydia are spreading rapidly. And escalating heatwaves, fires and droughts - driven by climate change - are pushing koalas to the brink. In many regions, they're already functionally extinct. And yet we’ve decided that killing them is the best we can do? What!?

Let’s be clear. The climate crisis that supercharges these fires is the direct result of decades of political inaction and fossil fuel expansion - aided and abetted by the very same governments now overseeing so-called “humane” wildlife executions. It’s not just morally wrong. It’s dangerously short-sighted.

We’re letting nature collapse - and calling it conservation

Culling koalas after their forests burn is like mopping the floor while your house is still on fire. It’s reactive, brutal and futile. Instead of killing animals to save them from suffering, we should be preventing the suffering in the first place - by protecting forests, restoring habitat and tackling the climate emergency head-on. By saying "no" to new coal and gas. By standing up to the corporations profiting from ecological collapse.

This isn’t the first time Australia has culled koalas. In fact, it’s part of a disturbing pattern. In 2020, over 600 koalas were killed in Cape Otway for similar reasons. The excuse then, as now, was “overpopulation.” But koalas don’t overpopulate. Humans overclear and over-pollute. We destroy ecosystems and then blame the animals struggling to survive in the fragments we leave behind.

And let’s not forget the cultural significance of koalas for many First Nations peoples. Budj Bim is a sacred Gunditjmara landscape. Where was the cultural consent? Where was the transparency? We owe it to both koalas and Country to ask these questions, and demand better answers.

I know it’s complex. I know wildlife managers on the ground are trying to do their best. But Australia must stop reaching for the rifle when what we need is leadership, foresight and courage.

There’s still time to do the right thing

Koalas are a national icon. They’re also a living warning. If we can’t protect them, what hope is there for less charismatic species? And for the complex biological systems that make Australia the unique continent it is?

We can’t keep making the same mistakes and expecting a different result. The world is watching - and not just from Italy. Instead of culling koalas in response to climate change, let’s stop digging up and exporting coal and gas. Let's stop subsidising fossil fuels. Let’s stop chopping down their habitat. Let's invest in habitat restoration and ecological fire management. Let’s follow advice from First Nations knowledge-holders.

The answer to the ecological crisis isn’t cruelty. It’s care.

What do you think? Please share your thoughts by forwarding my post and in the comments below.

Gregory Andrews having a cuddle with a baby koala.