The koala launched into an attack on the dogs, but Forster got caught in the middle. A woman has been left bloodied and required a four-day stay in hospital after being attacked by a koala north of Adelaide. Mary Anne Forster took her two dogs for a walk two weeks ago and when they pulled her toward a koala at the base of a tree, 7News Adelaide reported Wednesday. “Obviously the koala felt very threatened because it attached itself with its mouth, jaws, to my leg and bit very hard, bit very deeply,” she told 7News. “Because it wouldn’t let go, I put my fingers in its mouth and pried its jaws open to release my leg,” Ms Forster said. The koala latched on to Forster's leg and would not let go, causing a bite that required 12 stitches.
– It wasn't the koala's fault, says an Australian woman who was savaged by one of the planet's cutest and most cuddly-appearing creatures. According to 7News Adelaide, Mary Anne Forster was walking her two dogs a couple of weeks ago when they dragged her toward a koala at the bottom of a tree; she got caught in the middle when the koala attacked the dogs. "Obviously the koala felt very threatened because it attached itself with its mouth, jaws, to my leg and bit very hard, bit very deeply," she says. Forster, who had to put her fingers in the koala's mouth to make it let go, needed 12 stitches and spent four days in the hospital after the attack. The bite "became very infected, it was very swollen and painful," she says. The koala had good reason to feel threatened, Mashable reports: Australian authorities estimate that 110 koalas are killed in dog attacks every year, and an environmental department spokesperson warns that people who see them in the wild should "just leave them alone—certainly don't let dogs go near them because they will fight back, they've got big claws and big teeth." (Scientists using thermal cameras have discovered why koalas hug trees.)