But I am really disappointed that the koala wasn't chosen as an Olympic mascot. It is my personal view that our Olympic organizers did not choose the koala as a mascot because there is such a strong conservation lobby for the protection of its habitat. Koala conservation isn't as romantic or clear-cut as one might think. Many of our significant koala habitats are under pressure from suburbia, from ordinary Australians who are wanting to live the Australian dream of their own bit of land with a house and a backyard. If you look at a map of where koalas live and where people live, they overlap because we both like the fertile coastal strip.
Koalas compete directly with humans for land.
This sign reminds motorists to share the road with koalas. My office is situated in Brisbane, very close to the center of one of the largest remaining urban koala populations in the country. In fact, my office is probably built on land where there were once koalas roaming free. The local koala hospital admits approximately 1,200 koalas each year, and only about 250 go back to the wild. The pressure on them is immense.