Jeremy Bentham: The question is not, “Can they reason?” nor “Can they talk?” but, “Can they suffer?”
The koala (Phascolarctos cinereus, or, inaccurately, koala bear[a]) is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the wombats. Wikipedia
The Australian Government declared the Koala as ‘VULNERABLE” across the entire state. Upon receiving advice from the Threatened Species Scientific Council, Minister Tony Burke listed the Koala as a threatened species under the EPBC Act. Research conducted by the Australian Koala Foundation strongly suggests the Koala’s conservation status should be upgraded to “CRITICALLY ENDANGERED” in the South East Queensland Bioregion.