Dozens of koalas are dead or injured after their habitat was bulldozed at a timber plantation in Victoria, Australia.
An investigation is underway after a large number of blue gum trees were harvested before removing the marsupials from them.
Only a few trees were left behind and several koalas starved to death in the remaining trees, while others were killed by bulldozers, reports the BBC.
The Australian Forest Products Association said the culprit is unclear.
"It is unclear as yet who bulldozed the trees with the koalas apparently still in them," Chief executive Ross Hampton told The Age.
"But it is absolutely certain that this was not a plantation or a forestry company."
Logging company Midway confirmed it was involved in harvesting the plantation in December and complied with all regulations to protect the marsupials, reports the BBC.
It says it handed the land to a local farmer who is responsible for clearing the property.
Reports of the dozens of starving and dead koalas reached environmental group Friends of the Earth Australia.
It likened the deaths to a "massacre".
"A logging harvest was completed in late December 2019, where reports came in about the plight of hundreds of starving koalas," Friends of the Earth said.
"A couple of days ago people apparently witnessed the bulldozing of many dead koalas into slash piles."
Australia's Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning said it is prepared to prosecute over the deaths.
An investigation is underway into the circumstances of the deaths.
The deaths follow the catastrophic Australia wildfires which are estimated to have killed up to 30 percent of the koala population.
The marsupials are listed as "vulnerable" by Australia's Environment Ministry.
