Man Brings Traffic To A Screeching Halt To Escort Koala Across The Road

An Irish man is being praised a hero after stopping traffic to see a koala safely across the road.

That man, 39-year-old Will Thornton, was in Queensland when he spotted the koala headed for the Gold Coast Highway and knew he needed to help.

Katrina Boyle managed to capture a video of the heroic escort and she shared it on Facebook with the caption: “Our Irish son in law escorting koala across Gold Coast Hwy in Burleigh Heads this morning.”

In the video, you can see Will stepping onto the Highway and holding his hands up to stop oncoming cars. It’s quite brave, but he had a good reason for doing it. Slowly but surely, the koala made its way across the first part of the highway before beginning over the second part.

As Boyle watches and films, you can hear her saying, “There he is. Oh my god, Will is actually stopping the traffic. Oh my god.”

In an interview with Courier Mail, Thornton explained that he saw the koala from his balcony and knew he had to help.

He said, “Myself and my wife were having a coffee on the balcony, and we noticed a koala coming out of the tree below us, and I thought it was pretty cool. He started moving towards Gold Coast Highway, I thought that would be bad, so I bolted down to help him.”

In February 2022, koalas officially made their way onto the endangered species list. The 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfire season devastated koala populations and their habitat, with an estimated one billion animals being killed, alongside millions of acres of land.

To bring the koalas back from the brink of extinction, people need to fight to save them – just like Will Thornton. Every individual matters.

Check out the video below: