PRESERVING KOALAS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22792, 28 July 1937, Page 10

PRESERVING KOALAS

CAMPAIGN IN AUSTRALIA LABORATORIES FOR RESEARCH .[from ouk ows correspondent] SYDNEY. July 23 In order to foster the welfare of ■'Australia's greatest tourist asset" and to'"combat its imminent extinction," the Koala Club of Australia will shortly come into existence. Laboratories will be established for the pur* pose of conducting scientific research in support of the objects of club. "For a' long time there has been a

lot of talk about what should and should not be done for the koala, but Bo far no concerted action has been taken," said the honorary organising secretary of . the club, Mr. Frank Edwards. He added: "If we go on talking for. a few more years, there will be no koalas left." Referring to the decrease in the number of koalas in Australia, Mr. J. K. Hutchison, a veterinary surgeon, said until 1927 there were millions of koalas in Australia. Their numbers now did not exceed five figures. "Serious disease has been taking its toll, and to save the bears we must first tackle the question of disease," he said. "A four-fold study will have to be made —of disease, habits, feeding and breeding—and to do this laboratories will be established for research. The club will have a magazine and a campaign will be undertaken to interest people in the most lovable of all Australian natives." Mr. Edwards said that the purpose of the club was not the exhibition of the koala. It had one object—to save the bear from ultimate extinction.