DEAR News Of The Area,
I’M writing to you to express my strong concerns and objections to the sale of a well known and critically important koala corridor at 109 Foreshore Drive, immediately adjacent to the Mambo Wetlands.
The local and international community and 200 volunteers who staff the Port Stephens Koala Hospital find this decision bitterly disappointing and appalling.
Recently the koalas have been declared Endangered by Environment Minister Sussan Ley.
How are you supposed to prevent the extinction of koalas in Port Stephens when the Mayor and the Port Stephens Council makes decisions that, without question, will hasten this national and international tragedy?
The loss of habitat and/or the fragmentation of habitats and corridors for all wildlife, severely interrupts their home range, movement patterns, social structure and stress levels in koala populations, making them much more vulnerable to disease, road strike and dog attacks.
Thus taking in its totality, habitat loss and fragmentation is considered the principal cause of decline in koala populations.
Koalas are an economic benefit for the Port Stephens region.
Tourists will come to Port Stephens, which is a beautiful place, after the pandemic, to see koalas in the wild.
Koalas are the biggest attraction for animals in Australia and you simply cannot allow them to be extinguished by destroying their trees, vital corridors and habitat.
The community DOESN’T want this waterfront land sold off and public access reduced.
Please listen to your community and electorate.
Koalas deserve much better from you.
It is for these reasons that I urge you, Mayor Ryan Palmer and all the Councillors who voted for the selling of this corridor, seriously reconsider and overturn your despicable vote during the last Council meeting and ensure that this iconic piece of community land that is a koala corridor is not sold and protected forever for the future generations.
You can not allow the koala’s extinction.
Act now please.
The world is watching.
Yours sincerely,
Paola TORTI,
Italy.