Koalas Search For Water

The Australian government currently lists the koala as a priority species for conservation status assessment. Government estimates of the national koala population numbers in the hundreds of thousands, although other studies have estimated as few as 80,000 koalas left in the wild. The Australian Koala Foundation estimates there are around 100,000 koalas left in the wild.
As with most native Australian animals, the koala cannot legally be kept as a pet in Australia or anywhere else. The only people who are permitted to keep koalas are wildlife carers and, occasionally, research scientists. These individuals are issued with special permits to care for koalas, but have to return them to the wild when they are either well enough or, in the case of joeys, old enough.
The IUCN lists the species as "Least Concern". The Australian government does not consider the species to be threatened, although the US government has declared the koala a threatened species.
The koala inhabits four Australian states. Under state legislation, the species is listed as: