{"id":504958,"date":"2026-03-31T09:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/504958\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:45:11","slug":"queensland-boaties-in-stand-off-with-stowaway-sugar-glider-discovered-sailing-in-moreton-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/504958\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland boaties in stand-off with stowaway sugar glider discovered sailing in Moreton Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"

A stowaway sugar glider that had nested inside the folds of a sailing boat north of Brisbane is back on dry land after finding itself in a stand-off with shocked boaties in the middle of Moreton Bay.<\/p>\n

The vessel had set sail up the Caboolture River into the bay, with the little critter sound asleep, earlier this month.<\/p>\n

The nocturnal marsupial, which typically spends the day sleeping in tree hollows, was discovered by boat owners when the sails were completely opened.<\/p>\n

Carolyn Peterson had been driving the boat when she saw the glider pop its head out.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know who got a bigger fright, me or the sugar glider,” she told the ABC.<\/p>\n

“My husband didn’t quite believe me, but [he] went up to have a look”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The sugar glider was found on board a boat that had set sail up the Caboolture River into Moreton Bay. (Supplied: Carolyn Peterson)<\/p>\n

Ms Peterson called Wildlife Rescue Queensland (WRQ) for help.<\/p>\n

The non-profit group, based in Moreton Bay, helped coordinate the rescue with the resort on Moreton Island.<\/p>\n

“There was no way that we could keep it on the boat for a couple of days, and we couldn’t get back up the river with the tides,” Ms Peterson said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Carolyn Peterson had been driving the boat when she saw the glider pop its head out. (Supplied: Carolyn Peterson)<\/p>\n

Once Ms Peterson and her husband had anchored on the island they caught the sugar glider in a pillowcase.<\/p>\n

She said it took a “great effort”.<\/p>\n

“We had two guys and me with a pillow slip trying to catch it, and every time we’d get close it would bolt up the rigging.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The group attempted to capture the sugar glider using towels and a pillowcase. (Supplied: Carolyn Peterson)<\/p>\n

The resort, which has a rehabilitation centre for local wildlife, came to collect the uninvited traveller.<\/p>\n

“They came down on a quad bike and took the sugar glider all the way back to their base,” she said.<\/p>\n

It spent the night there before catching a ride on the passenger ferry back to the mainland.<\/p>\n

A WRQ volunteer was waiting at the barge on the mainland to drive the glider to be assessed by their veterinary team.<\/p>\n

\"Wildlife<\/p>\n

Carolyn Peterson says she got a big fright when the sugar glider popped its head out. (Supplied: Carolyn Peterson)<\/p>\n

Hannah Gallagher, a veterinary nurse with WRQ, told the ABC it was one of the “more unusual” calls her team had received.<\/p>\n

She said the glider was in excellent condition and was “probably over-conditioned”.<\/p>\n

“We even had discussions [about] whether he was a sugar glider or a squirrel glider based on his size.”<\/p>\n

\"Wildlife<\/p>\n

The sugar glider was assessed by Wildlife Rescue Queensland’s veterinary team when it arrived on the mainland. (Supplied: Wildlife Rescue Queensland)<\/p>\n

Her team named the glider Wilson, in reference to the movie Cast Away.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know if he was happy to go on that adventure, but it certainly went very smoothly,” she said.<\/p>\n

She said that Ms and Mr Peterson had taken good care of him, adding the best course of action when confronted with stranded wildlife was was to contact a local wildlife organisation.<\/p>\n

“We’d like to be advised of it straight at the start, not attempt to capture and potentially make the situation worse,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Even something as cute looking as a sugar glider, they still have big teeth and big claws.”<\/p>\n

Ms Gallagher said the gilder was a mature male, which made it more unusual to see him alone.<\/p>\n

“They usually all live in a family hollow together,” Ms Gallagher said.<\/p>\n

“He should have a group of girls and young that he looks after.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Wilson was released in Beachmere, where the boat had been docked. (Supplied: Wildlife Rescue Queensland)<\/p>\n

She suspected trees may have been cut down in its area, causing the family unit to scatter.<\/p>\n

“I’d say it was just a matter of the first safe place he found, which wasn’t very safe for him,” she said.<\/p>\n

Wilson was released in Beachmere, where the boat had been docked, shortly after arriving back on the mainland.<\/p>\n

Ms Gallagher hoped it had learned a lesson that the sail of a boat was not “the appropriate place to nest”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A stowaway sugar glider that had nested inside the folds of a sailing boat north of Brisbane is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[81422,2851,57965,177233,177232,90,177230,56,54,55,4407,177231],"class_list":{"0":"post-504958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animal-rescue","9":"tag-animals","10":"tag-boat","11":"tag-caboolture-river","12":"tag-moreton-island","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-sugar-glider","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom","18":"tag-wildlife","19":"tag-wildlife-rescue-queensland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}