With permission @Doug Gimsey
There are images that confront you; Doug Gimesy’s photograph “Koalas are dying for you to slow down” is not meant to be beautiful. It is meant to stop you and make you feel the weight of something we have collectively normalised – the quiet, relentless killing of wildlife on our roads.
The image captures a truth many Australians would rather not face, koalas are dying on our roads and we are not doing nearly enough to stop it.
It is a crisis hiding in plain sight, with road trauma one of the leading causes of death and injury for koalas in Victoria, and their Australian range.
Wildlife carers, vets, and rescue organisations are faced with these tragedies every day and know that koalas hit by cars rarely survive. Even if they do, too often they suffer catastrophic injuries resulting in the tough decision euthanise because they can never be returned to the wild. Many joeys also die, unseen after their mothers are killed.
Yet despite this, road trauma remains largely absent from meaningful government strategy.
Within the Victorian Koala Management Strategy, there are no targeted actions to address what is arguably one of the most preventable threats to koalas.
But the road trauma crisis is not happening in isolation. Habitat loss is driving koalas onto roads. As peri-urban areas expand and native vegetation continues to be cleared habitat becomes fragmented and food trees disappear.
Koalas are forced to travel further on the ground and roads become unavoidable barriers
It should surprise no one that koalas don’t understand roads. They move slowly, often at night, guided by instinct, not an awareness of fast-moving vehicles. The result is both predictable and preventable.
Let’s be clear here, this is a failure of planning and accountability. At a time when koalas across Australia face increasing pressure, the Victorian Government made a decision that raises serious concerns. It opted out of the National Koala Monitoring Program, claiming koalas are “abundant and thriving” in Victoria, although provided no transparent population data to back up this claim
Instead, it relied on modelling to “estimate” or “guestimate” koala populations and bundled it up into a perception management report that would inform all future practices concerning koalas. The research was published from the government’s very own research institute.
Modelling to determine population estimates is not monitoring. Without real-world data, collected from the field, from carers, from communities, such claims lack credibility.
Even more concerning is that there is no coordinated effort to map koala roadkill hotspots, no systematic data collection from wildlife carers or vets, no integration of citizen science or rescue data and no transparency around the data underpinning government conclusions.
In a world were big data rules, collecting all this information to a central location is easy. While such data is missing, there is certainly no evidence-based policy decision making happening! It is ridiculous for the government to claim koalas are thriving, when it is not even measuring where and why they are dying?
In the absence of government, volunteer organisation, rescuers and cares have to rally together to collect what data we can.
What this data, rescuers and carers are telling us is that the number of koalas killed on the roads is too significant to ignore in the way the government is currently doing.
Veterinary evidence reinforces just how serious this issue is but also reveals the broader pressures koalas face. Data from Zoos Victoria hospitals, including care provided through Werribee Open Range Zoo, shows that outcomes for many koalas brought into care are grim. According to then Zoos Victoria CEO Jenny Gray, “The most common presentations requiring humane euthanasia… include being struck by cars, dog attacks and being found abandoned and in poor condition.”
Why aren’t there any government strategies to address the issues in the Victorian Koala Management Strategy because these cases are obviously not rare, they are routine.
Add to all this the link between bluegum plantations and road trauma. When plantations are harvested, koalas are displaced suddenly. They move in search of a new source of food and shelter, forcing them onto roads. Many don’t survive.
In reality, in many parts of Victoria (and Australia) today, you are more likely to see a koala dead on the roadside than alive in a tree. Not the best branding for Tourism Australia!
The death of koalas on our roads is deeply personal for many individuals and communities. In towns where koalas once thrived, sightings are now rare, even where local protections exist.
In Mount Helen Ballarat, a long-term resident who has lived in the area since 1984 described collecting more than a dozen koalas killed on the road near his home in the last couple of years and burying each one himself. He said: “I prefer the fact that I don’t see koalas in the trees anymore…not because I don’t’ love them but because it means I won’t have to worry about finding them dead on the road.”
It’s a confronting statement, but one that most rescuers and carers can relate to. It reflects the emotional toll of witnessing repeated, preventable deaths to a species that is just trying to survive.
Even experts admit road trauma was overlooked, when developing the Victorian Koala Management Strategy, with one ecologist confirming to a member of Koala Alliance, “To be perfectly honest… we didn’t even consider it”. You really must wonder why! Particularly as this is not an unsolvable problem.
There are practical, evidence-based solutions available right now, such as identifying roadkill hotspots using aggregated data and installing dynamic digital signage with real-time alerts. Reducing speed limits in high-risk zones from dusk until dawn and enforce it and use road markings and visual cues to influence driver behaviour. And, where needed, investing in wildlife crossings and underpasses
The Koala Alliance has already developed a proposal outlining some of these measures, including hotspot mapping and targeted digital signage. This work was supported by Georgie Purcell, Victorian MP and animal justice advocate, and reportedly agreed “in principle” by the Roads Minister.
Over a year later, there has been no meaningful progress from the Minister. Koalas cannot survive this scale of government indecision. They are not declining in theory but in real time.
Rescues are becoming less frequent not because the problem is solved, but because fewer koalas remain. Local extinctions are becoming a real risk in parts of Victoria
Wildlife carers and communities continue to bear the emotional burden while one of the most immediate and solvable threats—road trauma—remains largely unaddressed.
A simple ask from Koala Alliance as we continue our push for the needed government action, as Doug Gimesy’s photograph shows – slow down, pay attention and simply care.
We know that Doug’s image is not easy to look at. And maybe that’s the point.
As Doug Gimesy reminds us, “What would a kind person do? Slow down between dusk and dawn.”
It’s such a small action. But for a koala trying to cross a road, it can mean everything.
This image of Doug’s has been selected as a finalist in the International Photography Awards (Monaco). This is a Public Award and you are able to vote. Voting will close on the 12th April at 23:59 (CET). You can view all the finalists and vote for Doug s image here
