National Koala Audit to Boost Animal Recovery Plans

A seven month-old Northern Koala joey clings to his mother Tara after emerging from her pouch at Sydney Wildlife World in Sydney, Australia on July 31, 2007. Ian Waldie/Getty Images

Koala populations will be checked across the country as part of an $18 million plan to help protect the troubled native animal.

Koalas could be extinct in NSW by 2050 unless urgent action is taken, and last summer’s deadly bushfires razed key habitat areas.