Badly burnt koala Bob (top) gives his new friend Sam a hug: Both animals have been taken to a wildlife centre near Melbourne after being rescued from Australia's deadly bush fires
Posted on 02/11/2009 3:10:31 PM PST by Steelfish
Pictured: The badly burned koalas who became best friends after surviving Australia's deadliest bushfires By Mail Foreign Service 11th February 2009
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. She was found cowering in a burned out forest at Mirboo North, 90 miles southeast of Melbourne.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
This story made me cry! And the picture of the firefighter sharing water is amazing. How horrible these fires have been.
Badly burnt koala Bob (top) gives his new friend Sam a hug: Both animals have been taken to a wildlife centre near Melbourne after being rescued from Australia's deadly bush fires
I have a great photo of a koala being given water by a firefighter I can forward to anyone that has a real email address they send to me and they can post here.
I spoke to a friend in OZ, thousands of them and roos are being killed by this fire and normally koala’s and not friendly
Good to finally have a good story out of all of that madness.
Are they adult size? Do you know? They look like cubs to me:’)
TA DA!!
A koala named Bob (top), rescued from last week's deadly bushfires, puts his paw around new friend and fellow fire survivor Sam as she recovers from her burns at Southern Ash Wildlife Centre near Melbourne February 11, 2009.
Sam is comforted by Country Fire Authority volunteer fire fighter Dave Tree as he rescued her after deadly fires that swept through the area of Mirboo North, about 120km (75 miles) southeast of Melbourne, February 8, 2009.
Sam is given a drink of water by Dave Tree as he rescued her. Sam, a bewildered and badly burned koala, has emerged from the ashes of Australia's deadliest bushfires as a small beacon of hope after days of devastation and the loss of more than 180 lives.
Not too good.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29143295/
“SYDNEY - Kangaroo corpses lay scattered by the roadsides while wombats that survived the wildfire’s onslaught emerged from their underground burrows to find blackened earth and nothing to eat.”
“Kangaroos that survived are suffering from burned feet, a result of their territorial behavior. After escaping the initial flames, the creatures — which prefer to stay in one area — likely circled back to their homes, singeing their feet on the smoldering ground.”
“”There’s no doubt across that scale of landscape and given the intensity of the fires, millions of animals would have been killed,” he said. Some 1,200 square miles of land have been burned.”
Not true for slower moving animals like koalas, and even fast animals can be overcome by firestorms raging all about them.
Bob looks scared. I think he’s the one getting comfort from Sam.
Humans in their vehicles can be and have been overtaken by fire storms. They are not slow moving things. A local firechief said that even if he had 200 fire crews out there fighting the wildfires, the only difference it would have made was that there would have been lots of dead firemen to add to the list of the casualties.
I did #9
my first photo after 10 years here.
Thanks Wolfstar.
You’re very welcome. :)
Thanks. Yea! I got it.
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