Surprised supermarket workers were greeted this week by an unusual customer who walked into their store.
On Monday, a koala decided to visit the Meeniyan IGA in Victoria’s Gippsland region.
Heartwarming videos and photos show the koala wandering the aisles, climbing shelves, crawling over newspapers and inspecting children’s toys.
The furry marsupial eventually needed help from staff to climb down from the spice rack.
“He has a little resting spot in the trees in the center of town and he decided to waddle around a little bit and ended up at our door. He was determined to get in,” Kaelene Shervall, an IGA store owner, told the Today Show on Tuesday.
‘We had a lot of trouble getting him out again.
“The main thing was that he wanted to climb somewhere. When he couldn’t get any higher up the herb stand, I got the ladder and he liked that better,” she said.
A koala decided to visit the Meeniyan IGA, on the southern Gippsland Highway in Victoria last week
Shop owner Kaelene Shervall said the koala was “very determined” to take part in the IGA
The staff managed to get the koala back to safety using the ladder, which had wheels, and slowly pushed it out of the store and back into the wild.
The koala did not cause any damage, but Ms Shervall said she was concerned about how the koala would get back home.
Staff managed to move the koala away from traffic, but she has not seen him since, she added that she “hoping he doesn’t come back’.
Photos of the store’s ‘excited visitor’ were uploaded social media page, where Australians instantly fell in love with the marsupial.
The koala did not cause any damage inside the store, but Ms Shervall said she had ‘great difficulty’ coaxing it back outside.
“Oh my god the poor little thing must have been a little freaked out but how cute,” one woman posted.
Another added: “He was watching the specials,” another wrote.
A third joked: ‘Only in Meeniyan.’