Aussie dad wrestles with a grumpy koala in the rain to rescue him from the middle of a busy road – before the unlikely duo swap sweet smiles
- Aussie dad Eddy Wright moved a koala off the road and placed it on a tree
- The grumpy koala swipes and grunts as Mr Wright, wearing gloves, moves it
- His daughter Lauren filmed the rescue mission for TikTok, where it went viral
Footage of a dad removing a reluctant koala from harm’s way on the roadside has gone viral – and earned him huge respect from his daughter watching on.
In the clip, which has so far been viewed over 13million times on TikTok, Queensland dad and earthmoving company owner Eddy Wright picks up the koala with welding gloves, from a road near Meringandan.
The koala desperately tries to claw and bite its rescuer but Mr Wright persists and even has a brief stare-off with the animal, before flashing a big grin and placing it in a tree off the road.
Eddy and Lauren Wright spotted this koala sitting on the crest of a road in central Queensland so they decided to stop and move it
Eddy Wright and the koala share a moment before he places it on a tree
Mr Wright had to calm the koala who clearly wanted nothing to do with his rescuer
The koala quickly scurries up the tree and away from him.
‘I thought I was gonna be in trouble when I uploaded it,’ Lauren Wright told Daily Mail Australia, filming the clip on her phone before uploading it online during her break at work.
‘There’s always farm animals and wildlife getting through fences onto the road around here and dad is always doing stuff like that.’
Mr Wright keeps his leather welding gloves in the car just in case he sees a stray koala.
‘Old mate even chewed a hole through one in that video,’ Mr Wright, 57, said.
He picks at least one koala off the road each month and believes they are coming out of the trees looking for water.
‘That one was lucky because he was sitting on the crest of a road and cars were flying along,’ he said.
‘We are still in drought up here, we haven’t had our average annual rainfall for four years.’
The koala was not keen on being picked up by a human but animal lover Eddy Wright loves a challenge
Mr Wright grins as the koala continues to stare at him
Mr Wright said the clip attracted hundreds of comments as soon as she uploaded it.
Now it has thousands – mostly praising Mr Wright’s efforts.
‘He loves the fame,’ Ms Wright joked.
‘I’m not one for the spotlight, he can have it all,’ she said.
‘This is the most Australian thing I have ever seen,’ one commenter said.
Many of the commenters were surprised by the koala’s grunting, angry reaction.
‘Who knew koalas were this mean?’
The koala was relieved to be put on a tree after Eddy Wright had grabbed it from its spot sitting by the road
‘That is a real life drop bear!’
‘Koalas make the sound of demonic possession. Cool!’ Another said.
Mr Wright hoped the video might help the reputation of earthmovers.
‘Earthmovers get a bad name for knocking trees down and not caring for the environment but we’re a bit different… we have a farm, we run 130 cows and calves,’ he said.
‘We think you’ve got to look after the environment. Especially koalas, even though they’re not cuddly like people say, they’re an Australian icon.’
He said the gum trees and the koalas are ‘pretty well struggling’ because of it.
Daily Mail Australia also approached Wires for comment.