Wild koala surprises canoeists by hitching a ride

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Members of the Burleigh Point Outrigger Canoe Club were shocked last week after a wild koala decided to join them for a boat ride.

The group was paddling down a Tallebudgera Creek on Australia’s Gold Coast when the animal spotted them from the bank and hopped in the water. After a short swim, the koala made its way into the boat and took over one of the seats.

The club member who posted video of the incident on YouTube called it “a stunning, magical encounter.”

“Amazing to us that he looked at us from the water’s edge, then decided to swim over to our canoe to say hello,” Peter Ando wrote. “Completely at ease? with us. Considering there were 12 of us in a twin hull 45ft outrigger canoe, totally mind-blowing. The koala was completely wild.”

“We paddled back to the creek bank where he came from & put him back on the little beach,” he recalled. “With a rather casual wiggle he ambled back into the bushes.”

Experts told BBC that the animal might have felt trapped on the tidal bank.

Watch this video, uploaded to YouTube Aug. 24, 2012.

(h/t: Hypervocal)