In early January, a woman living in the Tocumwal area phoned Kylie Donkers at Dutch Thunder Wildlife about a koala she found in the hollow of a tree.

Kylie said the woman was concerned about the Koala and thought he “didn’t look quite right” so she went out to check on him.

“That was my first encounter with who we have now named Mr Muddy,” she said.

“The reason being he was covered head to toe in mud, and it had dried on his fur, so he looked terrible.

“He was a little bit dehydrated so at that stage we gave him some oral hydration and this lovely lady kept a bucket of water topped up next to the hollow of the tree.

“He saw out that really hot weather with her, and then she messaged me a few weeks later and said she hadn't seen him around.”

Mr Muddy was located again on Monday, February 16 at a bus stop nearby.

“I got a phone call from a lady who had dropped her kids off at the bus in the morning and noticed a koala sitting low in a tree at the bus stop,” Kylie said.

“I happened to be in Tocumwal at the time, so I headed over to check out this koala, and it turns out its Mr Muddy, still covered in a fair bit of dried mud.

“There was one really muddy puddle in the lagoon, and I’d say that’s his only water source, so he’s been sitting in the mud and trying to drink from that.

“We are guessing he’s got a bit of a belly ache from that so we’ve set up one of our ‘water for wildlife stations’ at the bus stop.

“The lady who called it in, her kids are going to empty their water bottles into it every day and keep him nicely topped up with fresh water.”

Later in the week Kylie found him at the same spot near the bus stop sitting in a lovely sapling gum tree.

“He was up at the top of the tree having something to eat, so I’d say he’s fine, he’s just found himself a nice little spot,” she said.

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Friday, 25th September 2026

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