Koalas uniquely represent Australia but their dwindling numbers over the past decade prompted the Senate on Thursday to call on authorities to implement nationwide measures that would significantly cut down unnecessary deaths of the huggable marsupial.

Latest estimates showed some 300,000 koalas could still be living in the wild but according to Reuters, that population is constantly decimated by the animal's loss of habitat, natural deaths caused by sickness and road kills.

Senator Doug Cameron said on his committee report that thousands of koalas have died as vehicles accidentally ran them over while they were crossing roads that cut through the areas of their natural environment.

These unfortunate deaths, Cameron stressed, are wholly preventable if the national and state governments would strictly implement laws that limit road speed, especially in areas identified by authorities with heavy concentration of koalas.

The Senate inquiry also proposed the adoption of 'koala-friendly' road environment already observed in north-east Queensland, where authorities fenced the side roads of known koala concentration areas to prevent road deaths.

Also, Queensland officials ordered the construction of so-called 'koala tunnels and bridges' where the furry marsupials can cross anytime without inviting the dangers of being hit by speeding vehicles.

Prior to the establishment of such koala-proof fences and crossing tunnels, Queensland accounts for some 375 koala deaths yearly, Reuters said, which in 2009 reached a total road kill of 4500, tracing back from the past 12 years.

Those figures alone, Cameron said, represent the second major cause of koala deaths in the whole of Australia, with regular forest clearings and an AIDS-like disease also inflicting heavy tolls on the highly-vulnerable creatures.

Despite the alarming death rate, Cameron admitted that koalas "may not yet be eligible for listing as threatened."

"The committee (report), however, believes that to have such a significant Australian icon included on the threatened species list would be national shame," the Senator warned.