A British journalist has been filmed being tricked into wearing body armour to hold a koala at an Australian wildlife park amid the wildfire crisis.

Nervous ITV News reporter Debi Edward was told she was about to hold a more deadly cousin of the cuddly animal called a "drop bear" – a fictional creature invented to dupe naive foreigners.

In the hilarious clip, Debi is helped into the “drop bear suit” by Australian video journalist Sean Mulcahy.

“I'm a bit worried about why I need this level of protection,” she says anxiously, dubbing the body armour her “Batman suit”.

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Keeping a straight face, Sean explains that the fluffy koala Debi is about to hold is notorious for injuring tourists and has venomous claws.

The innocent koala is then bundled into her arms.

Holding the animal as if it's a bomb about to explode, Debi anxiously says: "Everybody looks very, very worried about this.”

"I'm trying not to be worried because I'm told he can sense if I'm worried."

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Suddenly, Sean announces that he thinks the koala is about to strike and says he needs to tranquillise it with a dart gun.

Debi then visibly panics – although she bravely continues to hold the animal – and begs for someone to take it away.

Sean obliges but then bursts out laughing as the penny drops and Debi realises that it was all a prank.

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Laughing and barely able to talk, Debi shouts: “f***ing Aussies!"

Sharing the video on his Facebook page, Sean said that Debi was an “exceptional journalist and a lovely lady” and explained that the prank was made to draw attention to the plight of the 40,000 koalas which have died on Kangaroo Island.

This comes after a moving video showed an unusual bond between a koala and a dog after the animals had learned to share water from the same pot.

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