A south-west forest and earth moving business has been fined $79,000 over its involvement in the mass killing of koalas at Cape Bridgewater in 2020.
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Bryant's Forestry and Earth Moving pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court on Thursday, November 16 to five charges.
The charges relate to the clearing of habitat that resulted in dehydration, malnutrition or injury to 73 koalas, and the death of eight.
The offending took place over a two-month period from December 2019 to January 2020.
The maximum penalty is a $594,792 fine.
Magistrate Gerard Lethbridge said he accepted the company "was not deliberately cruel or sadistic", but the injuries and deaths "were a consequence of the accused's actions".
"The habitat was very substantially reduced and the accused was principally responsible for that reduction of habitat," he said.
"Contractors must understand their obligations - these obligations go well beyond simply doing what they're told to do by the party contracting.
"The number, nature and seriousness of this offending must warrant a conviction and the imposition of significant financial penalties."
A lawyer for Bryant's said the director of the company was a "hard-working, kind man with strong family and community values and a strong moral compass" who cared for his own animals and didn't intend to do harm.
She said her client was the last contractor to be working on the site where a fence was erected which had nothing to do with Bryant's.
The court heard the fence could have contributed to the impact on the koala population.
Prosecutor Susanna Locke said wildlife volunteers, vets and authorised officers visited the site in January 2020.
There, they "made observations" of dead or distressed koalas including some which "appeared to be trapped behind a high fence and that did not appear to have food, water or shelter".
The landowner, James Troeth, is expected to appear before the court on November 17.
A separate contractor - and the third co-accused, Hutchinson Rural Contractors of Portland - was fined $20,000 on a single charge of animal cruelty relating to clearing habitat in December 2022.
Victoria's chief conservation regulator Kate Gavens said the penalty was significant.
"(It) should serve as a reminder to all contracting businesses that they are responsible for understanding and complying with their legal obligations to ensure wildlife welfare while undertaking contracted works," she said.
"The Conservation Regulator takes wildlife crime extremely seriously and will investigate and take action against anyone suspected of animal cruelty. We rely on public assistance and encourage anyone with information about wildlife crime to report it to Crime Stoppers Victoria on 1800 333 000."
