The Conservation Council ACT has today called for further construction of the suburb of Jacka to halt after the sighting of a koala in the proposed development area.
“This sighting is incredible,” said Simon Copland, director of the Conservation Council ACT. “In all my life living in Canberra I have hardly ever heard of koala sightings, so I am sure all Canberrans are very excited by the prospect of them living in our borders once again.”
“Koalas are listed as endangered in the Territory, and given this we have to take this sighting very seriously, both through protecting this individual animal, as well as the habitat in which it is living.”
Copland said that this meant we need to halt further development of Jacka, which is proposed to bulldoze the habitat the koala is living in.
“This development clearly needs to be stopped,” Copland said. “Canberra loves to call itself the bush capital, but we cannot continue to do so while continuing to bulldoze important habitat for native species.”
“This is not just for this one animal. Even if this koala is just ‘moving through’ the area, as some have claimed, this sighting shows that it has real potential to be an important piece of habitat for bringing back koala numbers into the ACT.”
“We should really question why the Government even approved bulldozing such a valuable piece of woodland in the first place. This area should be protected, not destroyed.”
Copland concluded by saying that densifying our city has to be the way to go in the future.
“The most sustainable way to continue to grow our city is through gentle densification. This will stop the bulldozing of key pieces of our bush, reduce carbon emissions as people are less reliant on cars, and help create more vibrant exciting communities.”