Police officers responding to an emergency call about a possible break-in at a Melbourne home were met with an unexpected culprit – a large koala attempting to enter through the back door.
Emily, a resident of South Yarra identified by her first name, called the Victoria Police just before midnight on 26 March after hearing unusual noises outside her house. Her dog began barking at the sound of scratching and rattling at the sliding glass door, leading her to believe someone was trying to force their way inside.
“I heard scratching and my sliding glass door was being rattled. I was absolutely petrified,” she told ABC Radio Melbourne Drive.
Victoria Police said officers arrived at the property expecting to confront a burglar in the act. Instead, the officers discovered a koala sitting beside the back door on a dog bed.
“A search of the backyard soon confirmed the koala was their person of interest and had acted alone,” police said in a statement on 27 March.
“Apart from being a confirmed bed thief, the marsupial was released without charge,” the statement added.
Emily recalled that an officer initially asked if she owned a pet koala. “I said no, and then I saw it – oh my god, it was the ‘intruder’,” she said.
Senior Constable Brittany Darvell, one of the officers on the scene, admitted they had anticipated a far more serious situation. “We were definitely ready for something sinister to happen, and then to see the koala was definitely a sigh of relief,” Constable Darvell told 3AW radio.
Emily described the marsupial as “enormous” and said it struggled to climb over the fence before falling to the ground with a loud thud.
“It tried to climb the fence but it couldn’t make it right over so it jumped down and hit the ground with a thud, it was like a rock,” she said.
After a brief standoff, the officers encouraged the koala to return to the backyard, where it eventually climbed a nearby tree and disappeared into the night.
