THEY are the “Ballina 14”, a group of threatened koalas that locals and scientists say will perish unless a proposed route for the ­Pacific Hwy is shifted.

There is Kenny, Duckie, Xena and Hercules, Con, Stevie, Georgie, Nessie, Aubrey, Missy, Lilly, Finn, Feisty Pat and Rana — all such regulars in the area that locals know them by name.

With bulldozers about to move in, residents are using the images of their native neighbours to convince the state and federal governments to move the route of the proposed highway around 700m in two sections.

media_camera Missy. media_camera Rana.

Listed as threatened under both state and federal laws, the koalas of the NSW far north coast are already battling to survive car strikes, landclearing and disease.

Koala experts and locals say the upgrade of “section 10” of the notorious highway near Wardell will sound the death knell for three local koala populations with the road ploughing through the middle of known habitat.

The NSW Roads and Maritime Service (RMS), which claims just five koalas will be ­directly affected, said its proposed “koala-proof fence” along the road, together with the allocation of 130ha of habitat, is enough to save the population.

The stoush has culminated in locals enlisting one of Australia’s leading koala ecologists, Dr Stephen Phillips, to prepare their own impact report, which they delivered to Environment Minister Greg Hunt last week.

media_camera Woolgoolga to Ballina roadworks.

Dr Phillips, who has sat on multiple government committees and is hoping to meet with Mr Hunt, said his research matched locals estimates of there being around 14 koalas that will be directly affected by the roadway, although the number could be as high as 20.

media_camera Aubrey. media_camera Stevie.

With the local koala populations already in decline, ploughing a highway through the middle of known koala habit would fast-track the population’s rate of extinction, he said.

“If you are dealing with an ­already declining population, building a road smack bang through the middle of them will mean many of those animals will die,” Dr Phillips said.

media_camera Duckie. media_camera Finn.

“No one wants to stop the road upgrade — human safety is sacrosanct — but what concerns me is that there has not been any attempt to even tweak the route to try to save these animals. You don’t have to move it far — just 700m in the north and the south — just a little tweak and all the populations are secured.”

The protection of the Ballina koalas was even more important given numbers in the entire ­region were down to critical levels, with around 200 spread over 8000ha.

media_camera Feisty Pat. media_camera Lilly.

Should the number drop to below a critical 170, the spiral of decline would be almost impossible to stop, Dr Phillips said.

Local teacher Mel Yakas, who lives 2.5km from the proposed highway upgrade route and often has koalas on her driveway and veranda, said it was ironic a koala was recently anointed as a Commonwealth mascot while its habitat was to be destroyed.

Ms Yakas said the RMS August had acknowledged at a meeting last that between 15 and 16 ­koalas would be directly affected.

media_camera Nessie. media_camera Georgie.