Koalas actually live most of the time on eucalyptus trees in the bush. But they are nocturnal – and one used the cover of darkness to explore a train station near Sydney.
network/dpa
October 8, 2024 – 6:25 a.m
In Australia, a koala made an unusual trip to a train station – triggering a police operation: Videos from surveillance cameras show the cute marsupial squeezing through a fence at Casula Station near Sydney in the early hours of the morning and then getting dangerously close wanders along the edge of the platform.
He had previously run towards a staircase, but then stopped in front of an elevator. “The koala appears to be considering whether to take the elevator to the platform, but then keeps running when no elevator comes,” the AAP news agency described the scene.
There is a large koala population in southwest Sydney
After the fluffy commuter crossed a pedestrian bridge, he padded down the stairs on the other side of the track, where he met a human, slightly puzzled commuter for the first time. But it was the conductor of a passing train that finally reported the rare guest to the authorities.
All trains were immediately instructed to reduce their speed when traveling through Casula. The police rushed to the scene and accompanied the koala on its way back to the nearby bushland. It was said that the officers did not have to intervene; the little excursionist climbed the fence alone and made his way home.
There is a large koala population in Sydney’s southwest, but it is increasingly threatened by urban development. The number of animal collisions with cars has increased as new roads suddenly cut through their natural habitat, Australian media reported. The state of New South Wales has appointed its own koala commissioner to better protect the iconic animals.
