2007-08-02, Save The Koalas 拯救考拉熊（在线收听） |
| It's the picture postcard symbol of Australia. 'Cause they're nice and furry and cuddly. They are looking like toys. I'll be really hard put to find another mammal that is so recognizable internationally and so beloved. But love alone, the experts say, is not enough to ensure the koala's future. Um, I can tell you that I believe the koala's future in this country is bleak, very bleak. The eucalyptus forests that have been home to koalas are being increasingly claimed and cleared for housing, farms and roads. And according to Deborah Tabart, the executive director of the Australian Koala Foundation, each tree lost just adds pressure to these animals' precarious state. Well, this is, um, exactly the sort of habitat that used to be all over Australia. Um, this is prime koala habitat. And in the last two hundred years since we've been here, we've cleared about 80% of this. So the foundation is pushing for a National Koala Act, a law to protect the remaining forests, including incentives for private landowners to help. To have a visionary piece of legislation that says: look, this is the way it is, we are not telling you that you can't do everything. But if you want something for future generations, you are going to have to make some concessions, 'cause you can't keep doing it the way it is. According to a 1996 study done for the foundation, the koalas are a big revenue earner, contributing around three quarters of a billion U.S. dollars every year to the Australian economy. The Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane combines conservation and tourism to the delight of visitors. Okay, welcome to Lone Pine, gonna come through here and hold my koala? The foundation says the koala has been decimated over the past two centuries, estimating the population has declined from about ten million to possibly fewer than 100,000, which is why the foundation is so determined to make the National Koala Act a reality. |
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