There have been no further sightings of a koala in the ACT, the territory government has confirmed, nearly a month after the endangered animal was spotted within a future development site.
An ACT government spokesperson said survey activities were continuing in and around Jacka, where the koala was discovered on October 17.
The rare sighting, the first in several years within the ACT, has local academics concerned given the koala was seen in an area that will be developed for hundreds of homes.
The land is owned and being developed by the ACT government, through the Suburban Land Agency.
An ACT government spokesperson said drone thermal surveys and acoustic activities to detect koala noises were under way.
"These activities include passive acoustic surveys to detect [koala] 'bellows', ground-based thermal spotlighting and mapping of vegetation communities to assess their value as [koala] habitat," they said.
"No further sightings of the [koala] have occurred since 17 October 2024."
The ACT government will use the survey and due diligence outcomes to advise the Territory Planning Authority and other stakeholders on the significance of the sighting.
No development activities would take place until this work was completed, the spokesperson said.
Calls for federal protection
A member of the public spotted the koala in box-gum grassy woodland within Jacka, in the northern-most part of Gungahlin, and recorded the sighting on citizen science website NatureMapr.
It caught the attention of independent ACT senator David Pocock, who later visited the location and photographed the animal.
Senator Pocock wants the area referred to the federal environment department for protection under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
Dr Kara Youngentob, a senior research fellow at the ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society, agreed the area should be protected regardless of whether the koala is spotted again.
She said the area is an endangered ecosystem, and a habitat for other endangered species, and it should not be developed.
Senator Pocock will write to federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and the relevant ACT ministers to push for the area's assessment under the EPBC Act.
An ACT government spokesperson said the koala sighting was referred to the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water on October 28.
In response, the department requested further discussions take place once the environmental due diligence and survey activities have been completed, the ACT government spokesperson said.
Koalas are listed as an endangered species by the federal and ACT governments. Prior to October, koalas were last seen in the ACT in 2021.
Professor David Lindenmayer, a world-leading expert in forest and woodland ecology, said in October the sighting was a very important finding.
"Clearly the development proposal needs to be stopped," he said.
"If we are seriously calling ourselves the bush capital we've got to stop knocking down the bush."
