World Wide Fund (WWF) Australia says more than 40,000 hectares of Koala habitat in Queensland has disappeared since the state's land-clearing controls were weakened.  The group warns the populations of Koalas will decline because of loss of habitat.

Calling it a "cruel blow" for the vulnerable species, WWF's scientist Dr. Martin Taylor mapped the areas where it happened, and describes the loss in terms a human should understand:  "The area is the equivalent of nearly one million house blocks - gone in just two years," Dr. Taylor said.  "That's more than 1,300 house blocks per day of Koala habitat being bulldozed."

Taylor says his analysis showed 40,312 hectares of habitat disappeared between 2012 and 2014, when the government of then-Premier Campbell Newman weakened Queensland's land-clearing controls.  Taylor and WWF Australia says QLD's land clearing controls must be restored as soon as possible. 

"Landclearing is squeezing koalas into fragmented patches of habitat where they will continue to rapidly decline because their home range is too small or broken up," Dr. Taylor said.

Another 200 threatened plants and animals - including the Greater Bilby and Northern Quoll - lost 211,820 hectares of habitat following the reduction in tree-clearing controls.