AUSTRALIA.- International media revealed that Australian authorities sacrificed nearly 700 koalas in Cape Otway, 230 kilometers Southwest of Melbourne, due to "overpopulation problems".

Government officials of the state of Victoria informed that the koalas were captured and sedated before being sacrificed in a undercover manner between 2013 and 2014, with the purpose of avoiding criticism from ecological groups and the Australian society.

"It was evident that there was an overpopulation problem and that the koalas were suffering in Cape Otway due to the fact that they weren't in good health and they were suffering from hunger", explained Victoria's Minister of Environment, Lisa Neville, upon a international media statement.

Although there have been extreme measure to control the number of marsupials in the South area of Australian problems of overpopulation persist, which is why Victoria's authorities were obligated to search for other preservation strategies.

Aside from Victoria, the koala bear is considered as a vulnerable and even threatened species on the East coast of Australia. Some of the dangers this animal encounters is climate change, loss of its habitat due to urban expansion and chlamydia disease , a bacteria that causes genital and eyes injuries making the koalas infertile and blind until they are slowly consumed by death.

With information from Milenio and 20 minutos.

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