Australia is home to so many amazing and wonderful creatures and you always hear of people and animals interacting together and having interesting events happen to them. So I'm sure no one would be surprised to hear that a golden retriever named Asha became friends with a baby koala bear down in Strathdownie in Western Victoria.
Temperatures in Australia can go down as low as 5C or 41F, which can be quite cold for most animals. Well, not for Asha because of her very thick coat. But baby koala bears would find this temperature hard to be in. But luckily for one little koala bear baby, Asha was there to help.
Meet Asha and her loving owner 45-year-old Kerry McKinnon.
One morning, Kerry got a bit of a pleasant surprise when she was at home.
She said, “It was quite early in the morning, and my husband yelled out to me to come have a look at something.”
At first, she didn't realise what her husband wanted her to see. And then she did. “I didn’t know what he was talking about at first, but then I saw this tiny baby koala snuggled on top of Asha.”
This baby koala bear cuddled up with Asha for warmth and Asha was more than happy to oblige.
Never in a million years had Kerry expected to see a baby koala cuddled up with her dog. After her initial surprise and confusion, she started laughing and couldn't stop.
“I just burst out laughing. Poor Asha didn’t know what to think; she just kept looking at me with such a confused look,” said McKinnon. “She looked a bit guilty when I came out to see what was going on. Her expression was hilarious.”
McKinnon says that Asha seemed comfortable with the baby koala on her and allowed the animal to cuddle up with her: “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.”
The whole situation seemed surreal but Asha definitely saved this baby koala bear's life.
Nobody knows exactly how this little koala landed there with Asha. The reigning theory is that the baby koala bear probably fell out her mother's pouch at some point and then got lost, finally finding Asha on the McKinnons' porch.
The baby koala was very young, too young to be without a mother. “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.”
Kerry is sure that Asha saved this baby koala bear's life. “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.”
Just look at how comfortable this baby koala looks cuddling up with Asha!
The McKinnons knew the baby koala bear needed help so they tried to get her bundled up in a blanket and take her to a vet to get her the help she needed. But the baby koala wasn't having any of it. She just didn't want to leave her comfy spot on Asha's back.
Kerry says that the baby koala had made a “huge fuss” in opposition to them trying to get her off of Asha's back. She's definitely a feisty one!
They wrapped the baby koala in a blanket and took her to a vet.
“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” said McKinnon.
Once the baby koala bear finished their check-up at the vet, she was handed over to a local koala carer who would provide the necessary care for the animal until it was ready to be released back to the wild.
Of the whole incident, McKinnon said, “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.” We agree!
People on the Internet were also moved by this wholesome friendship between an unlikely couple of a golden retriever and a baby koala bear!
Isn't this one of the sweetest things you've ever heard? Wild things really do happen in Australia! Photos via Catersnews.
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