{"id":579317,"date":"2026-08-25T00:24:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T00:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/579317\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T00:24:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T00:24:21","slug":"queensland-news-quick-thinking-driver-saves-koala-and-joey-from-close-call-with-truck-on-north-stradbroke-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/579317\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland news: Quick-thinking driver saves koala and joey from close call with truck on North Stradbroke Island"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A quick-thinking couple swooped in to save a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/topic\/animals-5uc\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">koala<\/a> and her tiny joey moments before disaster struck on Stradbroke Island.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/australia-news\/qld\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sunshine Coast<\/a> man Nick Duggan was driving past a park with his wife Pia when he noticed a group of people on the side of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/topic\/road-safety-61b\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">road<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/52b63a81ef2293e69b7882c8298e16d0d675dfdd099a58da3aec5d3e752e242a.png\"  width=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"_0b53bae146db0b62 _7475dd3391ee1518\" style=\"--text-color:var(--color-text-secondary)\">Nick Duggan pulled the koala to safety.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n<p>Looking closer, they realised what had drawn the crowd: a mother koala with her joey.<\/p>\n<p>Duggan told nine.com.au they quickly turned the car around and got out to help, arriving just as the mum began to climb under a nearby <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/topic\/truck-crash-26lk\" class=\"sc-iRgEWu hHENWX\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">truck<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Worried the pair would wander into the hot engine bay or get hit on the busy road, Duggan knew he had to act fast.<\/p>\n<p>He asked Pia to grab a towel so he could pick up the mother without being badly scratched.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy process was pretty simple really: get the mother and baby to safety without stressing them both out any more than they already were.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/8c004fa2f8919e51ba61a21185148f633ccf1cde25bff6d0e2b8b79f94291a0f.jpeg\"  width=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"_0b53bae146db0b62 _7475dd3391ee1518\" style=\"--text-color:var(--color-text-secondary)\">Safe at last &#8211; mum and bub were carried to a nearby tree.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd if I copped a few scratches in the process, it would be worth it to know they are safe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe towel did the trick though, and the mother was actually quite calm once she knew I was of no threat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nearby paperbark trees were difficult for the koala to climb, so Duggan took her and the joey further down the road towards denser bush.<\/p>\n<p>Once they reached a suitable tree, the mum took over.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI found a couple of trees with smooth bark, and as soon as she saw one she liked she actually jumped from the ground onto the trunk of the tree and climbed up with her baby on her back.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Duggan said he hoped the rescue would encourage people to act when an animal was in immediate danger.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/f621308fb520a147c16363cf2205ea0c01601e858d08a031508a7ccd454b9514.jpeg\"  width=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"_0b53bae146db0b62 _7475dd3391ee1518\" style=\"--text-color:var(--color-text-secondary)\">Duggan said he hoped the rescue would encourage people to act when an animal was in danger.\u00a0Supplied<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI hope it makes people stop and think that sometimes situations require a swift response, and you can\u2019t always wait for help to arrive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI also want people to realise that anyone could have done this, and I don\u2019t think it makes me particularly special.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A quick-thinking couple swooped in to save a koala and her tiny joey moments before disaster struck on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[111,139,69,147,406],"class_list":["post-579317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}