A Queensland man has risked his life to escort a koala safely across a busy four-lane highway.
Will Thornton spotted the koala intent on crossing the highway in Burleigh Heads, on the Gold Coast, on Thursday morning.
“My wife and I were having a coffee on the balcony when we saw a koala coming in from trees just in front of us,” the 39-year-old said.
“He just started making his way towards the Gold Coast Highway. So I bolted down and I wanted to keep my distance because I didn’t want to spook him too much. He was determined to cross the highway so I thought I better stop traffic and help him across.”
In a video posted by Thorton’s mother-in-law, Katrina Boyle, a barefooted Thornton can be seen stopping traffic as the koala walked across the road, taking a break near the median strip.
Thornton at times raises his arms to stop vehicles and occasionally gestures encouragingly to the koala to keep moving.
“The people in the cars were pretty understanding, they stopped when I stepped on to the road,” Thornton said.
“He nearly made the full way across the road before but he stopped and had a bit of a rest. The highway was quite busy at the time, so it was kind of lucky that it happened in the daytime when we could help him.
“It was a bit surreal. I had to put my hands up so the drivers wouldn’t think I was some sort of crazy guy. But they could see that there was a koala on the road and they understood. I’m just glad he made it.”
It is koala mating season which means more marsupials are on the move.
Dave Copeman, a spokesperson for the Queensland Conservation Council, said the video was a reminder koala habitat was shrinking due to land clearing and development.
“South-east Queensland is an area that has been massively impacted by clearing, largely for development and transport,” he said on Thursday.
“We’re at the point where we just can’t have any more clearing going on – we are destroying koala habitats. The really distressing reality is koalas face extinction in the wild if we don’t turn around the current trajectory. The science is clear.”
Copeman said that while there was a perception koalas lazed about in trees, they actually moved a lot during mating season. He advised residents to contact their local conservation group if animals needed assistance and to avoid picking them up.
