Koala found in Australian family’s Christmas tree

One Australian family had an unusual, surprise ornament on its tree when it came home.

The Guardian reported Taylah McKormick, 16, was the last of her family to leave the Adelaide house Wednesday about 3 p.m. She said she let the family dog out in the yard before she left.

When the family was back about 6 p.m. and Taylah brought the dog back inside, something was off.

“I think the dog went straight to the Christmas tree and was sniffing around, and Mum thought that was a bit weird,” Taylah said.

Ornaments were on the floor, and when Taylah’s mother, Amanda McCormick, looked up, she saw the koala in the tree.

“It was pretty tangled up in the lights. It was a fake tree and very old, but she still tried eating the leaves off it,” Taylah said. “I saw her munch down on some, but she stopped when she realized it was plastic.”

“I thought, ‘Is this a joke?’ I thought one of my kids may have put like a soft toy in there, but no, it was a live one,” Amanda McCormick said.

“We’ve had them in our trees before but not inside on our Christmas tree,” she said. “It must have crawled in when the doors were open; it would have been in our house for at least three hours.”

Amanda McCormick called the Adelaide and Hills Koala Rescue for help, but according to a Facebook post from the group, the hotline operator thought it was a prank at first.

“Apparently it took a little bit of convincing that, no … Amanda really did have a koala in her Christmas tree … It was just so gorgeous, seeing it sitting there just looking,” rescue co-founder Dee Hearne-Hellon told The Guardian.

Rescuers eventually arrived and were able to safely retrieve the koala, thought to be a female about 3 or 4 years old and in good health.