Koalas Search For Water

• New South Wales – listed at a state scale as vulnerable, but varying regionally from secure to locally extinct.
• South Australia – classified as rare (although the population on Kangaroo Island is thriving).
• Victoria – The koala population in Victoria was considered large and thriving, according to an article which was last reviewed on 29 October 2007.
The koala was hunted almost to extinction in the early 20th century, largely for its fur. Millions of furs were traded to Europe and the United States, and the population has not fully recovered from such decimations. Extensive cullings occurred in Queensland in 1915, 1917, and again in 1919 when over one million koalas were killed with guns, poisons, and nooses. The public outcry over the cullings was most likely the first wide-scale environmental issue that rallied Australians. Despite the growing movement to protect native species, the poverty brought about by the drought of 1926–28 led to another 600,000 koalas being killed during a one-month open season in August 1927.