Koalas killed in their trees after loggers bulldoze plantation

Dozens of koalas have reportedly been massacred by loggers in Australia just weeks after 8,000 were killed in devastating wildfires.

Nurse Helen Oakley, 63, posted an emotional video from the bulldozed bluegum plantation in Portland, Victoria, after finding dead koalas among the tree branches.

She claimed a logging company ‘bulldozed 140 acres now and have just killed all of our koalas.’

WARNING: This article contains images some readers may find distressing

She said: ‘There are koalas lying there dead. Mothers killed and their little babies. Australia should be ashamed of this. We need help.’

Ms Oakley told ABC News she had found 10 dead koalas and counted 70 to 80 live animals in gum trees.

She said: ‘Some of them have been fairly decomposed so they’ve been there for a while.’

Local MP for the region Andy Meddick described the scene in Portland as ‘absolutely abhorrent’, while confirming state officials in Victoria had launched an investigation.

He wrote on Facebook: ‘Trees have been bulldozed with koalas still in them.

‘There’s bodies of dead koalas among the branches, and some are still alive but injured.

‘The ones that have survived now have depleted food sources.

Friends, there is a distressing situation unfolding in Victoria and it has nothing to do with bushfires. Heartbreaking photos of injured and dead koalas from a razed Bluegum Plantation in Portland are circulating across social media. [thread] pic.twitter.com/vLOz0WH1xt

— Animals Australia (@AnimalsAus) February 1, 2020

‘The Victorian Government has announced they are holding an investigation into what has happened.

‘I’ll make sure they get to the bottom of it, and nobody gets away with this cruelty. Whoever is responsible must be held accountable.’

Animal protection charity Animals Australia said they have sent vets to help with the recovery operation.

It said: ‘By law, the companies that own these plantations must provide koala “spotters” to identify koalas in trees before logging commences, so that animals can be safely removed and relocated.

‘There is also a legal responsibility to ensure the welfare of koalas after logging has ceased.’

Andrew Pritchard from the Department of the Environment said 25 koalas had been put down, while the focus has turned to helping the injured koalas that survived.

The company behind the logging is currently unclear.

Koalas were among the hardest hit of Australia’s native animals during the wildfires, because they are slow moving and only eat leaves from the eucalyptus tree, which are filled with oil, making them highly flammable.

The marsupials were even declared ‘functionally extinct’ and their future is looking increasingly bleak.

In New South Wales alone, it was estimated 8,000 – 30% of the population – were killed in the wildfires.

But for the koalas that survived, their habitat and main source of food – eucalyptus trees – have also been ravaged by the fires.