Koalas are magnificent animals: they’re adorable and an iconic symbol of their native Australia. It’s always inspiring to see humans helping out these animals when they are in need.
Last year, we saw many stories of people helping koalas when their habitats were ravaged by massive Australian bushfires, and later helping them return to the wild when they were healed.
And in the latest heartwarming story of humans helping koalas, rescuers recently helped a mama reunite with her baby who had fallen from a tree.
The story comes from the volunteer rescue group Koala Rescue, based in Adelaide, South Australia. On August 8, they received a call about baby koala named Norris, described as “about the size of a tennis ball,” who had fallen from a tree, away from his mother, Doris.
Thankfully, the baby koala was unharmed after landing on a soft hedge, the rescue wrote. But, he was still separated from his mother.
Volunteers arrived on the scene, and waited for another team member who could climb the tree to return the koala. But while they were waiting, one volunteer decided to take a different approach: instead of going up the tree, she would try to call the mother down.
Koala Rescue says this “koala whisperer” exchanged grunts with Doris while holding Norris — and remarkably, it worked. Soon, the mother koala was climbing down the tree, as if she truly understood just what the human volunteer was communicating.
After Doris climbed down, the volunteer placed the baby on her back, and the two were reunited at last: “Norris happily climbed up on mum’s head so she could whiz them both back up the tree,” Koala Rescue wrote.
The heartwarming video has now gone viral and has been viewed 144,000 times on Facebook. But while people are moved by the rescue, the experts say this isn’t something you should try without proper expertise.
“Our volunteers have extensive training, education and experience in the handling and interaction with koalas,” Koala Rescue wrote. “Please do not try this yourselves if you find koalas in a similar situation – it is essential the baby is checked for injury/illness by experienced professionals before this kind of release can occur.”
But luckily, this volunteer did know exactly what to do, and was able to save the day.
“With years and years of experience, and having reunited many mums and babies, our very own koala whisperer was able to reunite this special pair.”
Watch the video below:
Thank you to this volunteer for helping this mama koala reunite with her baby! Share this amazing news!
