Get well soon, little Koala

We have a lovely gum tree just outside our front door.  Today, as I glanced out of the window, I saw a small koala sitting on the grass, just under the tree.  Immediately, I thought this was unusual.  We get a fair few koalas around the place, but they’re normally snuggled on a branch, either sleeping happily or munching on gum leaves.  This little koala was just sitting there, quite still.  It put its little hand on the tree as if about to climb up, but dropped it again.

We sneaked over to take a closer look.  It just looked at us, and made no attempt to move.

We rang the local wildlife rescuers.  Within 30 minutes, a man arrived, got out of his truck armed with a cage and a blanket, and skilfully loaded the little girl into a cage.  (He identified her straight away as a girl.  Some people are good like that.)  She made a tiny screeching sound.  He looked at a piece of her poo which was nearby.

“I’d say she’s got a problem with her teeth” he said. 

We wondered how he worked that out by looking at her poo.

“It’s not digested properly.  She’s not getting enough nutrients.”

Oh.  Well that made sense.

He said he would look after her and bring her back when she was well again.  I hope that’s soon.  She was so beautiful.