Sad ending to koala mercy mission

Mrs Bilston-Payne had grabbed a bowl of water and held it up to the koala, relieving him of his thirst.

‘‘To my surprise, he certainly was thirsty and he was quite content when I gave it to him, even putting his paws into the bowl and at times held the bowl,’’ she said.

Aware the koala might not appreciate her coming so close, Mrs Bilston-Payne said at no stage did the animal attempt to harm her.

She said her King Charles cavaliers Bobo and Bear were very interested in the visitor.

‘‘My husband picked them up one at a time to say hello — neither the boys or the koala were upset with the meeting and neither were stressed or nasty,’’ Mrs Bilston-Payne said.

‘‘Just very curious of one another I’d say and it was so lovely to watch.’’

The next morning Mrs Bilston-Payne found the koala was still hanging about on the farm. 

‘‘He appeared nice and refreshed after his water and halfway up a gum tree near the peppercorn tree,’’ she said.

Leaving the bowl of water at the base of the tree, she said it was an amazing experience.

‘‘To see this beautiful koala in the wild and so happy to receive some well-needed water as it is so dry out on the farm,’’ she said.

One week on and the friendly koala appeared settled at the property and the family aptly named him Blinky Bill.

Blinky also made friends with Bubbles, a nine-week-old orphaned lamb after an initially suspicious sniff while wandering around the backyard. 

With the mercury set to rise steeply this week, Mrs Bilston-Payne called in a welfare check from local wildlife rescuers Dutch Thunder to make sure Blinky could cope with the rocketing temperatures. 

‘‘They took him into the shelter to re-hydrate before returning her to the farm,’’ she said.

But it turned out the koala was not doing as well as had been hoped and he died soon after reaching the rescue home.