| Submit your comments on this article |
| Down Under |
| Sam the Koala gives Aussies hope after wildfires |
| 2009-02-11 |
| A VIDEO showing Sam the koala being given a drink by firefighter David Tree among the devastation of the bushfires has become a global hit. Pictures of Sam, who turned out to be female, travelled around the globe and featured in major newspapers including The New York Times, London's The Sun, with the video appearing on CNN. The image provided a much-needed picture of hope in a week filled with news of despair. Yesterday, Sam was recovering in Mountain Ash Wildlife Shelter. Sam the Koala is becoming overnight-famous in the way thatÂ’s only become possible since the advent of the Internet. Since the picture above, taken on the spur of the moment by a fellow CFA volunteer with a mobile phone camera, was published yesterday, Sam (who is a girl koala, by the way) has become a globally-famous marsupial. David Tree, the volunteer firefighter in the photo who is also shown in video here during the rescue? Not so much. Sure, you and your fellow bush fire fighters are the real heroes here, genuine Aussie legends, and you deserve to be famous too, all of you, but Â… what can we say? Sam is just that darned cute. But know that you and all of the volunteers who have been going almost non-stop day and night now, while you might not be quite as famous, still have our most sincere appreciation and admiration. Onya, mates! |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #4 P.S. Oops, I just above called Sam a "he." Sam is actually a girl-koala. My bad. Apologies, Sam!!! ;-) |
| Posted by: spot_the_dog 2009-02-11 17:29 |
| #3 If you go to my full post on this which you've excerpted, there are some good pictures of little Sam recovering. Regarding Tipper's observation on Koalas' normally grumpy/hissy/bitey behaviour, in an interview I heard with David Tree on radio last night, he also said, "It was amazing, he turned around, sat on his bum and sort of looked at me with (a look) like, put me out of my misery. I yelled out for a bottle of water. I unscrewed the bottle, tipped it up on his lips and he just took it naturally.He kept reaching for the bottle, almost like a baby." Poor old Sam must've really been feeling sad & sorry for himself to have been so docile and gentle :-( You'll be happy to hear he's doing much better. Three cheers for our volunteer bush firefighters (CFA) and for the carers at the wildlife shelters and for the hundreds of thousands of people around the world who have been so generously donating to our Bushfire Appeal Fund! Elsewhere on our blog there is a post with links where you can leave a message of thanks on a bulletin board to the CFA volunteers and other emergency service volunteers, and links to "How You Can Help." Thanks for the link, too, mate. |
| Posted by: spot_the_dog 2009-02-11 17:25 |
| #2 Screw PETA - this is true Ethical Treatment of Animals. Good for you, mate! |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2009-02-11 12:37 |
| #1 Video Normally they hiss at you and if you pick them up they piss on you, but this gal needed all the succor she could get. |
| Posted by: tipper 2009-02-11 10:57 |