‘Only in Australia’: Couple comes home to find koala in bed

CNN

By Isaac Yee and Chris Lau, CNN

(CNN) — Koalas are normally found in eucalyptus trees, but one couple came home in Australia on Wednesday and were shocked to find one in their bedroom.

“I was scared, happy and excited at the same time,” Fran Dias Rufino told CNN from Adelaide in South Australia.

Rufino, who moved to Australia from Brazil, posted the unexpected encounter on Instagram, saying she was lost for words upon seeing the marsupial inside her home.

“I was so nervous that I forgot my English,” she wrote in an Instagram post, with the observation “Only in Australia.”

Video showed the koala sitting on the floor beside their bed, staring at Rufino and her husband, Brunno, before climbing onto a bedside table. It then hopped onto the bed, according to clips Rufino shared with CNN.

“I was nervous and worried about how we would manage him to go out,” she said.

Koalas, which are mostly found on Australia’s east and southeast coasts, are endangered in New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory, mainly due to disease, drought, bushfires and land clearing.

In South Australia, where the Rufinos live, koala numbers are stable, and in some areas, populations are so healthy they’re being managed to protect the habitat.

The koala left the bedroom after Brunno used a sweater to try to guide it outside.

Video showed the koala scurrying around the house, presumably looking for a way out, as Rufino screamed frantically in the background. Koalas rarely attack people and are most often seen at the tops of trees, lazily chewing eucalyptus leaves.

Rufino said her husband later used a blanket to shoo the koala away and it then found its way to the door.

She said she occasionally spots koalas walking down the street or sitting in eucalyptus trees in her area and thinks this one might have sneaked in through the pet door.

While southern koalas are doing well, there are fears that disease and habitat loss could see further declines in endangered populations along Australia’s east coast.

In 2022, a 10-year national recovery plan was launched, but two years on, the long-term survival prospects for wild koalas in listed areas remain “poor,” according to an annual report released in May.

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