There's nothing worse than an itch that you just can't scratch.

But fortunately for this prickle-covered koala, a man with a hairbrush was on hand to help.

The koala was in a bad mood when Bruce Atkinson, from Apollo Bay, Victoria, found her on his porch as he had breakfast on Saturday.

A koala who found herself covered in prickles had them combed off of her by a friendly human

The koala was in a bad mood when Bruce Atkinson found her - but she quickly changed her tune after he started brushing her

Mr Atkinson said the marsupial walked up to him, which is not unusual, but added that she appeared 'a bit distraught'.

'It was just sitting there all glum,' he told the ABC.

The animal-lover offered the poor koala a cup of water but it angrily swatted it away.

It was only then that Mr Atkinson realised that the creature's fur was covered with burrs.

The caring man popped inside to grab a glove and a hairbrush and started combing them off of the poor creature.

He said: 'I just gently poked the brush at some of the burrs. Within seconds it decided, "this is alright, I'll have more of this".'

Fluffy! The koala looked very pleased after most of the burrs were brushed off of her

Man are marsupial are now 'good mates', Mr Atkinson said, although the koala has now wandered off back into the bush

A video shot by Mr Atkinson shows the koala looking relaxed as she let her new friend brush the sticky prickles away.

It took a long time, but eventually most of the burrs were gone.

Man are marsupial are now 'good mates', Mr Atkinson said, although the koala has now wandered off back into the bush.

'I was just amazed that the koala seemed smart enough to realize that I was trying to help him and I could not believe how quickly he went from being agro to letting me pet and tickle under chin,' he wrote on Facebook.