Pole dancing, late-night visits, evading the law: Australian police report encounters with koalas

Public indecency, stalking and fleeing from police - Queensland koalas have some serious questions to answer after several incidents were reported by officers during the past month.

The most serious allegations came on September 10, when police in the Townsville suburb of Stuart in north Queensland allege a koala, which went by the name of Fernando, gave officers a pole dancing display in the middle of a busy road.

Sergeant Julie Cooke wrote in an online account of the incident that officers were "concerned for the koala's safety" but the animal was "very stubborn and reluctant to move on".

"But when police pumped the new Taylor Swift song through the radio he showed his distaste and ditched the pole dancing lesson," Sergeant Cooke wrote.

Kenny the koala came off second-best after being clipped by a car.

In Brisbane, police were also forced to pursue a koala on August 21, after it fled from officers into thick bushland.



According to Sergeant Darnielle Fioriti, Holland Park officers were hunting "a different kind of offender" off Logan Road in Mount Gravatt when they saw a koala jaywalking in front of them.

Police will allege the animal showed a "blatant disregard for authority" before it was clipped by a car and staggered off into nearby bushland.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/97183709/pole-dancing-latenight-visits-evading-the-law-australian-police-report-encounters-with-koalas