CANBERRA - A love story between two badly burned koalas rescued from Australia's deadliest bushfires has provided some heart-warming relief after days of devastation and the loss of over 180 lives.
The story of Sam and her new boyfriend Bob emerged after volunteer firefighter Dave Tree used a mobile phone to film the rescue of the bewildered female found cowering in a burned out forest at Mirboo North, 150 km (90 miles) southeast of Melbourne.
A koala named Sam is given a drink of water by Country Fire Authority volunteer fire fighter Dave Tree after he rescued her following deadly fires that swept through the area of Mirboo North, about 120km (75 miles) southeast of Melbourne, February 8, 2009
Photo: Mark Pardew
Photos and a video of Tree, 44, approaching Sam while talking gently to her, and feeding her water from a plastic bottle as she put her burned claw in his cold, wet hand quickly hit video sharing website YouTube (www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XSPx7S4jr4), making her an Internet sensation.
But it was after reaching a wildlife shelter that Sam met and befriended Bob, who was saved by wildlife workers on Friday, two days before Sam, in Boolarra, about 180 km from Melbourne.
Tree, who has been a volunteer firefighter for 26 years, said it was extremely rare to get so close to a koala so he asked his colleague Brayden Groen, 20, to film him.
"You can how she stops and moves forward and looks at me. It was like a look saying "I can't run, I'm weak and sore, put me out of my misery,"" Tree told Reuters.
"I yelled out for some water and I sat down with her and tipped the water up. It was in my hand and she reached for the bottle then put her right claw into my left hand which was cold so it must have given her some pain relief and she just left it there. It was just amazing."
INSPIRING LOVE STORY
Sam was taken to the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter in Rawson. Her story was reminiscent of a koala named Lucky who survived the 2003 bushfires that destroyed about 500 homes and killed four people in the capital of Canberra. Lucky became a symbol of hope.
Colleen Wood from the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter that is caring for Sam and Bob said both koalas were doing well while other animals like possums, kangaroos, and wallabies were also starting to emerge from the debris.
She said Sam had suffered second degree burns to her paws and would take seven to eight months to recover while Bob had three burned paws with third degree burns and should be well enough to return to the bush in about four months.
"They keep putting their arms around each other and giving each other hugs. They really have made friends and it is quite beautiful to see after all this. It's been horrific," said Wood.
"Sam is probably aged between two to four going by her teeth and Bob is about four so they have a muchness with each other."
Wood said about 20 koalas had been brought into her shelter in recent days, several of whom had bonded as koalas are known to clump together, but none had garnered the same attention as the new Internet star Sam.
Tree, a volunteer with the Country Fire Authority Victoria, has visited Sam since her rescue and was delighted to see she had found a boyfriend in Bob.
"They've really taken a shine to each other as they are both burned and share the same burned smell," he said.
"My heart goes out to the people in these fires and this was so innocent so people have used this to distract them from all the sad stuff that has gone on. It gives people a bit of hope."
Donations for bushfire support can be made to the Country Fire Authority Victoria via their website here
(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
Thirsty koala becomes Australia's wildfire star
Wed Feb 11, 8:59 pm ET
SYDNEY (AFP) – A thirsty koala rescued from the Australian wildfires has become a star on video-sharing website YouTube, providing much-needed relief from the disaster that has killed more than 180 people.
Firefighter Dave Tree stumbled across the female marsupial, nicknamed Sam, as he was battling blazes in Victoria state and was amazed when the parched animal guzzled down water from a bottle as he held her scorched paw.
"Things do survive the bushfire ... are you alright buddy," he says in the footage captured by a fellow volunteer on a mobile phone.
Tree described the koala as "looking pretty bewildered".
"This is amazing ... how much can a koala bear?" he said as he poured two bottles of water into her mouth.
Koalas' cuddly appearance sometimes leads to them being likened to teddy bears, although in reality they are notoriously ill-tempered and possess powerful claws capable of inflicting savage wounds.
But Sam sat placidly as the firefighter gently stroked her.
The clip on the koala has attracted more than 30,000 hits on Youtube and Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper is selling photographs of the extraordinary encounter, with proceeds going to volunteer firefighting organisations.
The newspaper reported the animal suffered burns to her paws and was in a lot of pain, but was on the road to recovery at the Mountain Ash Wildlife Shelter.
However, wildlife experts fear millions of native animals may have been killed in the firestorm.
"It will be in the hundreds of thousands, possibly millions," Gayle Chappell from the Hepburn wildlife shelter told the national AAP news agency.
"We are not just talking the animals we are familiar with, there are gliders and all sorts of possums, antechinus (a mouse-like marsupial), bandicoots, birds -- there is so much wildlife.
Victoria police on Wednesday issued an appeal for supplies for pets affected by the fires.
They said donations of food for cats and dogs, rugs, blankets and feed for horses and any other animal supplies would be gratefully accepted.
Pauleen Bennett, an animal welfare expert at Melbourne's Monash University, said research after the Hurricane Katrina disaster in the United States showed people who lost pets showed higher rates of distress and depression than those whose animal companions survived.
"So every effort needs to be made to reunite pets with owners and keep families, including pets, together," she said.
The clip on the Koala