A gas station in South Australia received an unexpected visitor this week. The employees were busy stocking shelves and working the checkout counter when they noticed a koala wandering the store.
According to CCTV footage, which was recovered after the incident, the koala managed to scoot in through the automatic sliding door. It then went for a bit of a shop, walking the aisles and perusing for snacks. Ultimately, the animal strolled up behind the counter and grabbed ahold of an employee’s leg.
The video, which has now been viewed about 38,000 times on YouTube, shows the koala clambering up the man’s pants as he stands helplessly, unsure of how to react. Other staff members called animal control. Rescuers arrived shortly after to pick up the koala and return it to a suitable habitat.
While the footage has proved popular online, not all the responses have been positive. Many Instagram commenters, for example, point out that the koala likely only entered the store because it was looking for food or shelter. Both are harder for wildlife to find in South Australia due to climate change and development.
“This is sad, not cute,” one commenter said. “Their habitat is being destroyed.” According to the Australian Koala Foundation, habitat loss is a leading cause of declining koala numbers throughout the region.
This is just the latest weird animal news from Australia. Last week, hundreds of fish literally fell out of the sky onto a town in the northern part of the country. And in February, scientists discovered that an Australian marsupial called the northern quoll is so obsessed with sex that it’s driving itself to extinction.
As for our gas station koala? It appears that the animal was successfully relocated. Authorities are now using the story as an example of how to respond to out-of-place wildlife encounters. If you find an animal somewhere it’s not supposed to be, call a wildlife rescue organization right away. Try to avoid touching it—or letting it climb up your pant leg—no matter how cute the critter may be.
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A koala entered a gas station store in South Australia through the automatic sliding door. It wandered around, went behind the counter, and grabbed an employee’s leg. The footage of the incident was viewed around 38,000 times on YouTube. Though the responses to the video were not all positive, and some indicated that the animal entered the store while looking for food and shelter as climate change and development decreased such resources in the region. Rescuers arrived shortly after to pick up the koala and return it to its habitat. The incident was used as an example of how to deal with the encounters of out-of-place wildlife.
thanks again
daniel