WWF alarm, koala at risk of extinction

(ANSA) - SYDNEY, FEBRUARY 19 - Australian environmentalists have made an appeal to the Australian government to take drastic action to save the koala population after the death of thousands of specimens in the wave of fires, which in the wake of an unprecedented drought devastated the their habitat in recent months.
Testifying in an investigation by the New SouthWales parliament on the population and habitats of the koalas, the Australian WWF representative Stuart Blanch argued that from the status of 'vulnerable' the symbolic animal of Australia "is headed for extinction" and should be added to the national list of endangered species. "It wouldn't hurt, based on the data collected, if the number of koalas lost due to the drought and then the fires reached 10 million," he stressed.