Little koala who's become a big internet hit

AN orphaned koala named Jimmy has become an internet sensation, with more than 200,000 "likes" on Tourism Australia's Facebook page.

Jimmy the Koala

HE'S the little koala who has become a big hit worldwide.

Jimmy has become an internet sensation after being posted on Tourism Australia's Facebook page.

Photos of the cute critter have generated more than 200,000 "likes'' on the social networking site and been shared more than 70,000 times.

Jimmy was orphaned when he and his mum was hit by a car on a road at Crescent Head on the NSW coast in 2009.

Found unconscious, he was rescued and returned to the nearby Port Macquarie Koala Hospital.

"He was in pretty bad shape,'' supervisor Cheyne Flanagan said.

"He was all bruised and he only weighed 500g.''

After being introduced to other koalas at the hospital and rehabilitated Jimmy has been returned to the wild, but his legacy lives on online.

A photo of Jimmy wrapped around Flanagan's leg has proven to be the most popular of the images of Jimmy which have been posted.

"It's interesting to know my leg has gone worldwide,'' Flanagan joked.

She is sure Jimmy is doing well in the wild and is sure to be the alpha male of the area.

"He was a little devil actually,'' she said.

Tourism Australia's Facebook page is the most popular destination page in the world, hitting more than three million fans last month.

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Jimmy the Koala