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Coast Guard resuscitates drowning koala

Posted November 28, 2008 18:05:00

Victoria's Port of Portland Coast Guard had a rescue of a different nature last night, with volunteers giving CPR to a drowning koala.

The Coast Guard noticed what they thought was a dog in the sea during a training exercise last night.

Spokesman Cyril Cram says when they pulled it out of the water they realised it was a koala in trouble.

"By that stage the poor blighter had actually stopped breathing and was really in trouble and the three guys went straight into first aid mode and lifted him up and drained the water out and [performed] CPR on him and brought him back to life again," he said.

Mr Cram has a theory on how the koala ended up in the water.

"I think he's probably walked along the wharf, we've got a few of them around, I think he walked along the wharf and he's probably thought, 'hello, we're going to swim away from here and got in the water'," he said.

"But yeah, they were very quick and he wouldn't have lasted very long."

Tags: human-interest, animals, offbeat, australia, vic, portland-3305