新湖畔网 （随信APP) | 汽车和衣原体威胁澳大利亚树袋熊

孤儿考拉小袋鼠Ajooni在悉尼由野生动物护理员Emma Meadows喂养- 版权AFP Saeed KHAN

Laura CHUNG

孤儿考拉小袋鼠Ajooni紧紧抱着一个比自己大两倍的毛绒玩具，喝着小注射器中的奶，发出呼噜声。

她的体重大约和一个芒果差不多，在悉尼一条路边发现，她的母亲被车撞死。

这对于野生动物护理员Emma Meadows来说是一个熟悉的故事。

在过去两年里，Meadows和其他志愿者从他们所在社区挽救了40只被车撞伤的考拉。被放弃的数量可能更高。

考拉羞怯且难以计数。

澳大利亚可能还剩下95,000到524,000只考拉，可能少于欧洲殖民前的数百万。

扩张的城市、土地清理和沙眼的传播无疑正在摧毁澳大利亚最具标志性的动物之一的种群。

东海岸考拉在2022年被澳大利亚政府正式列为“濒危”物种。

“我真的相信我们正在走向灭绝，”是WIRES的一名志愿者Meadows说。

“我不知道是否会回头。我担心已经为时太晚。”

约50年前首次观察到考拉患上沙眼。在此后的几十年里，沙眼已经灭绝了整个当地的种群。

这种细菌会导致盲目、膀胱感染、不孕和死亡。

尽管存在一些没有沙眼的考拉种群，比如Ajooni被发现的地区，但科学家们担心这些群体可能很快消失。

- 世界的“灭绝之都” -

悉尼大学野生动物健康和保护医院的院长Annabelle Olsson经常检查被救助的考拉，包括七个月大的Ajooni。

在法新社参观中心的那天，一只被麻醉的三岁考拉躺在手术台上，而Olsson和她的团队采集袋鼠的血液，进行X光检查和检查袋鼠的脸。

这只考拉没有患上沙眼，但有头部受伤影响了反射，需要进一步治疗。

Olsson说，如果没有更好的考拉保护，“我们的孙辈，或至少他们的孙辈，可能只有幸运的话才能在动物园看到考拉”。

Orphaned koala joey Ajooni is fed by wildlife caregiver Emma Meadows in Sydney - Copyright AFP Saeed KHAN

Laura CHUNG

Clinging to a fluffy toy twice her size, orphaned koala joey Ajooni made a snuffling noise as she drank milk from a tiny syringe.

Weighing about the same as a mango, she was found by the side of a Sydney road where her mother was hit by a car and died.

It is a familiar tale for wildlife carer Emma Meadows.

Over the past two years, Meadows and other volunteers have recovered 40 koalas hit by cars in their neighborhood. The number left for dead is likely much higher.

Koalas are shy and notoriously difficult to count.

There are anywhere between 95,000 and 524,000 left in Australia, possibly down from millions before European settlement.

There is little doubt that expanding cities, land clearance and the spread of chlamydia are devastating the populations of one of Australia’s most iconic animals.

East Coast koalas were officially listed as “endangered” by the Australian government in 2022.

“I actually, truly, believe we’re heading towards extinction,” said Meadows, a volunteer with WIRES.

“I don’t know if there is any coming back from this. I’m scared it’s too late.”

Chlamydia was first observed in koalas about 50 years ago. In the decades since, it has wiped out entire local populations.

The bacteria leads to blindness, bladder infections, infertility, and death.

Although some chlamydia-free koala populations exist –- such as the area where Ajooni was found -– scientists fear these pockets may soon disappear.

– World’s ‘extinction capital’ –

Annabelle Olsson, director of the University of Sydney Wildlife Health and Conservation Hospital, has regularly examined rescued koalas — including seven-month-old Ajooni.

On the day AFP visited the center, a sedated three-year-old koala lay on an operation table, while Olsson and her team took the marsupial’s blood, did X-rays and examined the koala’s face.

The koala was chlamydia-free but had a head injury that impacted her reflexes and would require further attention.

Olsson said without better koala protections “our grandchildren, or at least their grandchildren, are going to see maybe koalas in a zoo if they’re lucky”.

“Australia is an island nation with an incredibly high biodiversity and incredibly unique wildlife species and floral species that need to be preserved,” she said.

Scientists believe Australia has the highest rate of mammal extinction in the world, with about 100 of the country’s unique flora and fauna species wiped out in the last 123 years.

Environment minister Tanya Plibersek has said Australia is “the mammal extinction capital of the world.”

While there are some rules and guidelines to protect koala habitats, koala bushland continues to be cleared.

– Vaccine hopes –

Some have instead focused their conservation efforts on quelling the spread of koala chlamydia.

University of the Sunshine Coast researcher Samuel Phillips is part of a team working on a potential vaccine.

They have vaccinated and monitored 165 koalas over 10 years and found inoculated marsupials developed chlamydia later in life and their mortality was reduced by 64 percent.

A Queensland trial of the vaccination, used in conjunction with traffic and predator controls, was so successful that a local koala population doomed for extinction within 10 years rebounded.

Some marsupials will even need to be translocated to stop overpopulation, Phillips said.

“It’s been a really positive story,” he said.

However, Phillips warns that more needs to be done to address the other key drivers of koala decline, particularly the deforestation of their habitats.

– ‘Make a difference’ –

Ajooni will remain in Meadow’s care until she is big enough to be released back into the wild.

It will be a “bittersweet” moment for Meadow, but she says seeing any koala successfully released is the best feeling.

That feeling is what keeps her going through the awful parts of her volunteer role: scraping dead koala bodies off the road in the middle of the night, or finding animals that are so severely injured that they need to be put down.

“I continue to do what I do because somebody needs to make a difference, and I feel that this is one way in the world that I can make a difference,” Meadows said.