Big Pimpin' From
The Scotsman:
KOALA bears are to be implanted with contraceptives to keep their numbers down and stop them munching the landscape bare at an Australian national park.
Around 2000 of the marsupials at the park in Victoria will be given a slow-release hormone which prevents conception for up to six years.
The notoriously fussy eaters survive on a diet of leaves from a small number of eucalyptus tree species.
Conservationists warn that koalas are in danger of dying out along Australia's east coast, as urban sprawl destroys their habitat.
But their population has exploded on Kangaroo Island, and some environmentalists have urged officials to shoot hundreds of the animals there because they are chewing their way through the island's foliage.
The Vatican, a longtime opponent of contraceptive methods, is silent on this
one. The
Australian Catholic Church is as well.
Posted by Kyer at October 1, 2004 08:05 PM
