A $1 million fence designed to protect one of the world’s most important wildlife populations is once again falling down. Stretching along Picton Road, southwest of Sydney, the towering structure was supposed to stop koalas from leaving the forest and being killed by cars.
Yahoo News first alerted the state government to problems with the fence in 2023, after a resident documented its appalling state. Those stretches were patched, but two years on new sections are crumbling.
Yesterday, another koala was killed just metres from where the fence is falling down. “It had to be euthanised, it had irreversible injuries,” wildlife rescuer Ricardo Lonza told Yahoo News after he rushed the animal to a vet.
“When I got there it was making squealing sounds. It was in massive pain, it was heartbreaking. I’m frustrated by the whole thing, because the fence is always breaking.”
Looking at koala vehicle strikes across Sydney’s southwest, rescuers warn fatalities are spiralling out of control as roads become busier and the human population booms. Since July, 2022 at least 101 koalas have been killed on the roads across the region – 48 of them died this year.
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This koala was found dying on the side of Picton Road, close to where the fence was broken. Source: Help Save the Wildlife and Bushlands in Campbelltown
Why does the fence keep breaking?
After Yahoo reached out to Transport for NSW, which is responsible for maintaining the fence, crews were dispatched to fix the fence.
It advised the fence is “checked regularly”, but locals tell a different story, claiming it’s often left in disrepair for weeks. And looking back to 2023, the breaks in the fence that were reported in February were not fixed until April.
A spokesperson responded to Wednesday’s fatality by saying “koala strikes are of genuine concern to Transport for NSW.”
Crews were dispatched to the site after Yahoo raised the issue on Wednesday, and it’s understood works were continuing today.
Why the fence keeps breaking and whether it has fundamental construction flaws remains a mystery as Transport for NSW is yet to respond directly to a question about the matter.
“The fence was installed in 2019 and was deemed best practice to help prevent koalas from straying onto the road. It also connects to a number of large culverts under Picton Road, which provide a safe access for animals under the roadway,” it said in an email.
“The NSW Government is working with wildlife experts to improve preventative measures at hotspots, including Picton Road,” it added.
Stretches of the Picton Road koala fence were falling down in February 2023. Source: Supplied
Horror koala road statistic for 2024 revealed
Koalas in Sydney’s southwest are considered the most important population in NSW — where the species is listed as endangered. That’s because they are free of chlamydia, a bacterial infection thought to have been spread by sheep that causes blindness, infertility and death.
It’s also unique in that koala numbers are increasing, unlike the rest of the state where localised extinctions have been reported. In 2020, a parliamentary inquiry concluded the species would be extinct in the wild across NSW by 2050 without “urgent government intervention”.
Four years on, habitat has continued to be cleared across the state for new housing estates, and a report warned the state is on track to lose 50 per cent of its threatened species within a century.
Minister for Roads John Graham and Environment Minister Penny Sharpe were contacted for comment on Wednesday. But they did not respond before publication on Thursday.
While the government claims to be helping protect the state’s koalas, rescuers like Lonza who regularly pick dead and dying koalas off the road argue current efforts are failing.
“I’m truly worried. It’s getting beyond a joke,” said Lonza. “The government says they’re doing things, but koalas are still headed for extinction. I don’t know when but it’s going to happen.”
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