When it comes to animal adventures, Australia definitely has it all. Just recently, Kerry McKinnon, a resident of Strathdownie in Western Australia got the best gift from Asha, her golden retriever that would likely ever happen again to any other dog in the world.
In Western Victoria, temperatires can often plummet to 5°C (41°F) on a regular day in the wee hours of the morning, and not every animal has warm and fuzzy fur like Asha.
Kerry retold the story to News.com.au:
“It was quite early in the morning, and my husband yelled out to me to come have a look at something. I didn’t know what he was talking about at first, but then I saw this tiny baby koala snuggled on top of Asha.”
She admitted that seeing that baby koala on top of her pup completely surprised her, and that at first, she wasn’t really happy about her dog’s unsolicited heroism.
“I just burst out laughing. Poor Asha didn’t know what to think; she just kept looking at me with such a confused look. She looked a bit guilty when I came out to see what was going on. Her expression was hilarious,” Kerry added. “She kept looking back at the koala bear, but she wasn’t trying to get him off her or anything. She was happy to let him snuggle into her.”
It still remains a mystery on how that cute baby koala ended up clinging on to Asha. The most practical explanation they could think of was that this adorable joey was unintentionally separated from its mother because it was small enough to still be living with her, and it needed another mother figure to attach itself to.
“I think the koala bear baby fell out of his mum’s pouch and didn’t know what to do. He would have just wandered over to our back porch and seen the dogs in their beds, then decided to snuggle in Asha’s fur because it’s nice and warm.”
“Asha definitely saved the koala’s life by keeping him warm. He would have died out there if left alone all night. The poor thing could have been taken by a fox or something too.”
Kerry also mentioned that it “wasn’t easy” separating the two, as the koala put up a “huge fuss” when she had tried to removing it from Asha’s back.
Asha’s mother said that everything is well with the little koala. After taking it to the vet and having it checked up on, they sent it to a local koala carer to be under their supervision until they can release the baby back into the wild.
“I think dogs have that protective instinct. The koala didn’t want to leave Asha’s back. When we took the koala off to wrap it in a blanket, it hissed at me and carried on. I think it would have been happy to have just slept there all day. It was really an amazing animal friendship to see and so uniquely Australian,” said Kerry.
What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news!
True Activist / Report a typo
