Here's An Interesting Story About Koalas

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Australia’s tourism minister, in 1983, described the Koala as a “flea-ridden, piddling, stinking, scratching, rotten thing.” Wow! The koala did not have a defender in Australia, but the Japanese people stepped in. (Most people say koala bear, but a koala is NOT a bear or even much like a bear.) Six Japanese cities immediately desired to have koalas for their zoos and Tokyo even set aside $2 million to purchase a pair of koalas, although it was highly unlikely that the Australians would ask that amount for such an unpopular animal in their eyes. However, the Japanese were very smart in marketing all sorts of koala related merchandise, including toys, T-shirts, and many other cute items. Millions of dollars were generated in Japan for those items that were marketed all over the world. Now, the koala is loved by people everywhere. Australia missed out on this source of revenue entirely, thanks to their tourism minister. Oooops!