This is probably the sweetest Australian story right now.
A golden retriever has saved the life of an abandoned baby koala by letting it cuddle up in her fur.
The proud dog owner, Kerry McKinnon from Strathdownie, Western Victoria has received a heart-melting surprise.
Kerry witnessed something truly touching. Her goldie Asha has saved a koala joey by keeping it snuggled in her fur. This lovely scene happened in September 2018.
Kerry believes that the marsupial was probably separated from its mother during the night, and it found comfort in Asha’s warm fuzzy coat. She shares with 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 koala snuggled on top of Asha.”
By this time, the temperatures in the early hours were plummeting to 5C (41F). According to Kerry, the baby koala wouldn’t survive the night if it weren’t for her caring retriever.
Asha’s selfless deed was not only heartwarming but also truly heroic.
The happy mother of three beautiful children admits that this touching moment was also pretty hilarious.
“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.”
“She[Asha] kept looking back at the koala but she wasn’t trying to get him off her or anything. She was happy to let him snuggle into her.”
No one knows exactly how the marsupial and Asha met. However, Kerry thinks the baby koala was most probably separated from its mother not long before her golden retriever found it.
“I think the baby koala 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.”
McKinnon strongly believes that her dog has saved the poor baby’s life, keeping it warm during the night and the early morning hours.
Apparently, the two animals got attached during that time. Kerry shares that it wasn’t easy at all for her to separate them. When she tried to remove the koala from Asha’s back, it was putting up quite a “huge fuss”.
After being checked out by a vet, the baby joey was doing well. As soon as she could, Kerry took it to a local koala center, where they took care of the little marsupial.
