CNN
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Koalas are normally found in eucalyptus trees, but a couple returned home Australia Wednesday and was shocked to find one in their room.

“I was scared, happy and excited at the same time,” Fran Dias Rufino told CNN from Adelaide in South Australia.

Rufino, who moved from Brazil to Australia, posted the unexpected encounter on Instagram, saying she was at a loss for words upon seeing the marsupial inside her home.

“I was so nervous I forgot my English,” she wrote in an Instagram post, with the note “Only in Australia.”

The video showed the koala sitting on the floor next to their bed, staring at Rufino and her husband, Brunno, before climbing onto a bedside table. He then jumped on the bed, according to clips Rufino shared with CNN.

“I was nervous and worried about how we were going to get him out,” she said.

Koalas, found mainly on the east and southeast coasts of Australia, are endangered in New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory, mainly due to disease, drought, bushfires and land clearing.

In South Australia, where the Rufinos live, koala numbers are stable, and in some areas populations are so healthy that they are managed to protect habitat.

The koala left the bedroom after Brunno used a sweater to try to guide it outside.

The video showed the koala rushing into the house, presumably looking for a way out, while Rufino screamed frantically in the background. Koalas rarely attack people and are most often seen atop trees, idly chewing eucalyptus leaves.

Rufino said her husband then used a blanket to shoo the koala away and it then headed towards the door.

She said she occasionally saw koalas walking in the street or sitting in eucalyptus trees in her area and thought this one might have slipped through the cat flap.

Although southern koalas are doing well, there are fears that disease and habitat loss could lead to further declines in threatened populations along Australia’s east coast.

In 2022, a 10-year national recovery plan was launched, but two years later the prospects for long-term survival of wild koalas in listed areas remain “poor”, according to a report. annual report published in May.