There are just 43,000 koalas left in Australia due to loss of habitat and disease and wildfires, compared to 100 years ago when there was an estimated 10m
A breeding centre is being built to help save koalas amid fears they could be wiped out by 2050.
Loss of habitat and disease have led to a dramatic drop in the population over the last century from an estimated 10 million in 1923 to 43,000 today. Catastrophic wildfires in recent years have worsened the situation.
An appeal to raise £12,000 for 145 koala drinking stations during the wildfires ended up raising £3.5million from generous animal lovers around the world â many of them in the UK.
And now that money is funding the construction of the world’s first “wild to wild” koala breeding centre near Port Macquaire in New South Wales, where there is also a koala hospital that attracts around 120,000 visitors a year.