A thirsty echidna breaks into a liquor store and makes a total mess

A thirsty echidna breaks into a liquor store and makes a total mess - before sleeping under a champagne rack

A thorny intruder caused absolute chaos when he broke into a bottle store in Australia and raided the stock.

A thirsty echidna was caught on CCTV dropping into a BWS store in Keogle, NSW, casually browsing the aisles.

Having somehow managed to get through the front doors, I rolled out of the wine range and then checked out the fridge full of beer.

The animal began dropping several bottles of alcohol, including vodka and liqueur and left a trail of broken glass on its way for staff to clean it up the next day.

Maybe it was the alcohol or the new environment - but either way, we ended up slumbering and can be seen in shots under a champagne rack, snugly draped over.

Workers in the store discovered this the following day and immediately called the animal welfare charity, Iris.

Once they arrived, they described in a Facebook post that they saw a "terrible mess" with "things falling and lots of broken bottles on the floor."

The rescuers' "immediate thought" was that "the store had been broken into and vandalized."

Echidnas have been described by the charity as "bush shovels" because of their incredible strength and ability to move heavy objects such as tree trunks and rocks.

They described the rescue operation as "difficult" because it was "strongly confined to the bottom of the shelves and in no hurry to move."

Fortunately, one of the volunteers managed to expel the mischievous creature and found no injuries after consuming alcohol.

Wiers joked that the animal "obviously didn't consume much champagne during the night" because it "walked away in a straight line."

Hopefully, this is a lesson learned from the offending chute.