I am on the Wildlife Ambo (Ambulance) rotation this week. It's been very quiet. We responded to a call to pick up a lorikeet with a 'broken' wing, which happily flew away the following morning, hee, hee. I mean it wasn't the nicest take off of a wild bird I have ever seen but he was air born! There was also a lady with a snake in her yard, the woman who had found a puppy without a collar. We don't "do" snakes or puppies so, yeah, kinda boring. You just throw them a few numbers of others who handle that stuff. Yesterday morning that all changed. I answered the phone ringing me out of a sweet, deep sleep. ( We handle all calls between 5 pm and 8 am)I heard a man's alarmed voice informing me, "I have two koalas in my house! I have no idea how they got in but there's one in the lounge and one in my boy's bedroom!"
Sure enough, we found a gorgeous, fat healthy koala sitting quite comfortably on the lounge room floor and another in a back bedroom between the wall and the bed. At home in the lovely and tidy house, unflustered by the excitement they had caused, they treated the space like their own place happy to leave their doo doos on the floor. The owners were quite accommodating as it is spectacular to see a koala in the wild much less have one visit in your own house, oh, and the fact that they can rip your insides out with those claws is another great reason to let them have their way!
As you can see, we gathered them up and set them on the other side of the fence where they happily escaped up trees! That sounds and looks SO much easier than it was. Thanks to my capable companion, Stephanie, who orchestrated our rescue and release plan all went smoothly, never mind that the koala nets are ripped to shreds! It's a true adrenalin rush to have hold of a bagged koala thrashing wildly and grunt screaming for it's life!! I like to think they were grateful in their own way. We were sure thrilled to be a part of returning them to familiar ground.
Bart was disappointed to have been out of town. Poor guy. He's my true wild man and would have loved it. If he had been here, though, I would have been faced with a real test of my courage, 7 young men and 3 young women in SEMINARY! Hee, hee. All kidding aside, I couldn't help but find myself comparing the challenges of each setting. Hmmm, teaching the scriptures to teenagers at 6:50 am, manhandling wild koalas? Hmmmm, it's a tough choice depending on the day and their moods!
