What seemed like an average morning in Queensland, Australia, recently became much more interesting when a man walked into his yard and spotted someone shocking hanging out at the top of his clothesline.
As he approached, the man saw that the visitor was a koala who had climbed the clothesline as if it were a tree. He quickly called local wildlife rehabilitator Terise Hungerford. Retractable Clothes Line
“[The resident] telephoned me and told me he had a Koala sitting on his clothes[line],” Hungerford told The Dodo. “I did laugh at the time … that's something you don't hear everyday.”
When she arrived at the scene, Hungerford quickly assessed that it was in the best interest of the koala to remove her from the clothesline and into a more suitable area. With the help of her assistant, Hungerford gently lowered the koala into a carrier. Then she took the koala to a specialist, where she could be assessed for injuries.
“Keeping the koala calm and reducing any stress to it was my main concern,” Hungerford said. “While the koala did not appear to be sick or injured, I am not a koala specialist, so I took it straight to a veterinarian for it to be assessed.”
After receiving confirmation that the koala, whom Hungerford named Tilly, was ready to return to the wild, Hungerford got to work finding a release site.
Soon, Tilly was slowly making her way up a tree, finally back where she belonged.
Hungerford was thrilled to see Tilly climbing again, and she even noticed the little koala turn around, as if to say, “Thanks for helping me.”
“Tilly understood the assignment and pushed the carrier door open before it could be fully opened,” Hungerford said. “Tilly raced up the tree, but stopped to say thank you before moving further into the canopy.”
Though Hungerford is happy to have helped Tilly, she fears that Tilly’s situation is exemplary of a larger, scary trend, as koalas are slowly being forced out of their homes and into residential areas due to increasing urbanization. Hungerford hopes that by sharing Tilly’s story, she’ll be able to help more koalas by advocating for their struggle.
Single Retractable Clothesline “[Koalas are] on a path to extinction due to habitat loss from land clearing, urbanization, drought, fires and disease.” Hungerford said. “They deserve respect.”