Definitely not what they were expecting…

In some of the cutest news to come out of this Christmas period, an adorable koala has been caught trying to make its home in an Adelaide family’s Christmas tree. The curious fluff ball somehow snuck into the McCormick family home and had all but properly nestled and ready to start her new life in suburban living, when of course, the family dog discovered her.

It gets even more cuter, as the koala (who the family have named Daphne) was found surrounded by fairy lights and eating the plastic tree branches. Opening up on koala-gate, a member of the family said “I think the dog went straight to the Christmas tree and was sniffing around and Mum thought that was a bit weird. There was baubles all over the floor… and she looked up and there was a koala in the tree.

“It was pretty tangled up in the lights. It was a fake tree and very old but she still tried eating the leaves off it… I saw her munch down on some but she stopped when she realised it was plastic.”

Naturally, the family called animal control, but the call handler thought they were having a laugh until they actually saw it in person, with animal charity 1300Koalaz writing online “At first our call handler thought she was the victim of a prank call. But no, a koala desperate to get in the Christmas spirit had wandered into Amanda McCormick’s house and decided it wanted to be the fairy on the Christmas tree. Amanda was not so sure and rang us for help.