Once threatened-koalas being put on the pill as a population pest

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2004

SYDNEY (AFP) — Australia's koalas, once a threatened species, are now growing so fast in some areas that wildlife authorities are putting them on the pill.

The government of Victoria state announced a plan to implant up to 2,000 female koalas with a contraceptive containing a slow-release hormone which prevents fertilisation for up to six years.

The operation will take place over the next 10 weeks at Mount Eccles National Park in Victoria's west.

The state's environment minister, John Thwaites, said that without controls on koala numbers, they will degrade the environment by their ravenous eating and ultimately contribute to their own demise.

Koala were listed as an endangered species in the 1980s but conservation efforts have allowed populations to...