The Weirdest Animals Found in Christmas Trees This Year

In early December, Florida resident Aubrey Iacobelli was woken up in the middle of the night to an unusual sound: her dog barking. When she walked into the living room, she found her dog barking at the Christmas tree. Sure enough, something furry was clinging to the tree. At first Aubrey thought the creature was a cat, but the raccoon soon revealed itself for what it was. 

The dog lurched at the tree, knocking it over, and the raccoon jumped onto a chandelier, where it hung for about 30 minutes. Eventually Aubrey chased the raccoon out of her house with a frying pan, and it left through the dog flap in the front door it used to enter the house in the first place. Watch a hilarious video of the encounter if you don't believe this happened! 

In November, a worker helping to set up the 75 foot tall spruce tree that acts as a Christmas tree in the Rockefeller Center, Manhattan, found an unlikely stowaway: a seven inch tall saw-whet owl (one of the smallest owls in North America). The owl, which was named Rockefeller, had traveled with the tree a whopping 170 miles and appeared to not have eaten for at least 3 days. 

The tiny owl was taken to the Ravensbeard Wildlife Center, where she was fed and nursed back to strength and health. After a week, Rocky was released into the wild, but not before becoming the most famous owl of 2020. Let's hope she stays away from Christmas trees in the future. 

When the McKormick family, who live in South Australia, returned home after an afternoon outing, something seemed wrong in the house. The dog immediately started sniffing around the living room, and there were baubles from the Christmas tree strewn all over the floor. Suddenly, the family realized they had a new addition to their Christmas tree: a koala! 

The juvenile koala sat in the tree placidly while the McKormicks contacted an animal rescue hotline, even trying to eat some of the plastic leaves on the tree. While it's common for the family to see koalas in the trees outside their house, they'd never had a koala come inside - let alone climb their Christmas tree. Eventually the koala was relocated by professionals, although we think Daphne (what the koala was named), gives a certain charm to the Christmas tree.