A koala crossing one of South Australia’s busiest freeways has led to a six-car pile-up as drivers abandoned their vehicles to mount a rescue of the “calm” marsupial.
SA police confirmed the multi-car crash occurred on Adelaide’s South Eastern Freeway near Crafers on Monday morning.
A male driver reportedly was the first person to stop his car to try and rescue the koala before 7am. His car was then hit from behind causing a chain reaction.
Adelaide woman Nadia Tugwell was behind the pile-up and said at first she couldn’t tell what was causing the delay in traffic.
“People were already out of the cars and going around – we didn’t know what had really happened,” she told Guardian Australia. Then Tugwell saw the koala moving between the cars and a concrete barrier in the middle of the freeway.
“The koala was just cute … sort of stomping between the cars and the barrier. Then I saw a lady running behind it, trying to catch it with a blanket or something.”
Tugwell said she grabbed a jacket from her car and also raced towards the koala.
“When it saw me it instantly turned around to run backwards but the other lady was there and so we jumped it, bundled it up, and it ended up in my car because she had children,” she said.
Tugwell had previously rescued animals from other roads so she had the number for the Adelaide Koala Rescue centre saved in her phone. She called them from a nearby service station.
While she waited an hour for the rescuer to arrive, Tugwell said the koala made itself at home in her car, including on the steering wheel.
“I was sitting there entertaining myself but I had to jump out of the car at that stage when he decided to take over,” she said.
When the rescuer arrived the koala shifted around between the two front seats before moving into the back where the handler was able to manoeuvre the marsupial into a bag.
“He was actually quite a calm koala, he didn’t even fight about being in the bag, he was just calm and went into the basket,” Tugwell said.
The volunteer released the uninjured koala back into the wild one kilometre from the freeway.
Adelaide Koala Rescuer volunteer Ann Bigham told the ABC the koala came out of the ordeal “scot-free”. “The koala was in really good condition, it was lucky it hadn’t been hit at all and thanks to the rescuers it was kept safe,” she said.
South Australia police said no motorists were injured as a result of the multi-car crash.
The Link LonkFebruary 08, 2021 at 06:44PM
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/08/quite-a-calm-koala-marsupial-gets-behind-the-wheel-after-being-rescued-from-australian-freeway
'Quite a calm koala': marsupial gets behind the wheel after being rescued from Australian freeway - The Guardian
https://news.google.com/search?q=Wheel&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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