BEIJING, April 11 (Xinhuanet) -- A 100-year-drought, wildfires and the encroachment of humans on its habitat are killing Australia's cuddly koalas and could push the species toward extinction within 10 years, environmentalists are warning.

    Deborah Tabart, chief executive officer of the Australia Koala Foundation, believes the animal's future is as forlorn as she has seen it in her 20 years as a koala advocate.

    "In southeast Queensland we had them listed as a vulnerable species which could go to extinction within 10 years. That could now be seven years," she said. "The koala's future is obviously bleak."

    Southeastern Queensland has the strongest koala populations in Australia, which means extinction in this area spells disaster for the future of the species, said Tabart.

    The biggest threat is the loss of habitat because of road building and development on Australia's eastern coast -- traditional koala country. The joke, said Tabart, is koalas enjoy good real estate and are often pushed out of their habitat by farming or development.

    Frank Carrick, who leads a koala study project at the University of Queensland estimates the national population of the marsupial at about one million. And while he doesn't believe the animal will be extinct within a decade, he acknowledges their numbers are dwindling.

    "Though we don't really have an accurate figure on how many koalas there are in Australia right now, we do know one thing -- that it's going down. Because we keep chopping down trees and their food source," he said.

    Carrick said it will take 40 to 50 years for the koala to sufficiently recover from the impact of the latest Victorian bushfires, drought and development.

    (Agencies)