Interesting Facts About Koala Bear Plush

Despite their bear like looks, koalas are not bears at all, but rather, marsupials (an animal that carries its young in a pouch). As they can only be found in Australia, a koala bear plush is as close as most people will ever get to seeing one. Any type of soft toy collection that does not include a koala bear plush is nowhere near complete.

According to the Australia Koala Foundation, there are as few as 80,000 koalas left in the wild. They also estimate that there could even be as few as 43,000. Unfortunately, koalas are victims of severe habitat loss, domestic dog attacks, bushfires, and road accidents. Currently, there is no real legislation that is either enforced and/or effective in Australia. It is mostly due to the lack of political will to ensure there are adequate resources and implementation with police to enforce it all. Each state in which koalas reside (Queensland, New South Whales, Victoria, and South Australia) has its own legislation. In Australia, the Federal Government leaves the responsibility of protecting koalas up to each state. Each state then passes that on to local government. Local government goes on to make most of the major day to day decisions when it comes to the koalas habitat but are lacking in resources and expertise in the field to handle it all adequately. The Australian Koala Foundation firmly believes that in order to save the koala, habitat protection for the areas in which the animal lives, has got to be the number one priority.

Plush Whale

The Queensland government, in 1994, deemed koalas as 'Common Wildlfe.' This 'label' had far-reaching implications in that it deemed the animal excluded from protection of a much higher nature that was afforded other species. Finally, in March 2004, after much back and forth from government, along with evidence supplied by the Scientific Advisory Committee, the koalas status in one part of the state was changed to 'Vulnerable.' The kolas that live in other parts of Queensland, are still listed as 'Common.'

Interesting Facts About Koala Bear Plush

In New South Whales, koalas were first listed in 1992 as 'Rare and Vulnerable' with an additional change to 'Vulnerable' later on. In 1995, in a rare move, Koala Habitat Protection was finally introduced - the first state to offer such specific species protection. In Victoria, on the other hand, koalas are not even listed as a threatened species. In fact, they mostly live on some islands and a few isolated mainland habitats which the government considers overpopulated [with koalas]. Koalas living on mainland Victoria, however, face the same habit loss, dog attacks and so on, as koalas in other parts of Australia.

During the fur trade in the 1920's koalas were so over-hunted, they completely disappeared in South Australia. They were re-introduced on Kangaroo Island in South Australia from Victoria and are now listed as 'Rare.'

If for no other reason than to bring ongoing awareness to the koalas plight, the purchase of a koala bear plush or two can go a long way to supporting organization such as the Australian Koala Foundation. Given it's already difficult to resist cuddly koala bear plush, how can we possibly let the real thing disappear altogether?

Interesting Facts About Koala Bear Plush

Angeline Hope is a collector of giant koala bear plush. You can view a huge selection of quality koala bear plush stuffed animals at http://www.mybigplush.com.