Heh! You must be sick to death of me bleating on about Sammy the Koala by now! Anyway, I wanted to collect together some vids of her and David Tree and other relevant animals & people for posterity. There's repeat footage in them (Sorry!), but all the clips under the cut have something a bit different. Poor David isn't used to the limelight and he stumbles a bit and gets things wrong, but he's a real dear, and it's lovely seeing him trying to give credit to the other deserving volunteer workers. You can read what he says about the timing of the footage, the international attention and how much he is out of his comfort zone here.

( read more )
Article: Firefighter recognised for aiding koala

Portrait Shot and Burned koala paw (not Sam's) It looks like Sam has been posed for this shot! Her legs and paws are in a different position to the other pic like this. I was really interested to read somewhere that the Strezlecki Range koalas are much fluffier, (long-furred) and rarer than other more common varieties of Eastern Seaboard Koalas. She's very pretty in this shot, isn't she?

( 6 clips under here )

One last pic for the night (here). This is kind of a happy interim ending until final release into the wild, but it's a lovely go-to-bed image.



It's funny that the person who helped her in the bush is Mr Tree and her present carer is Ms Wood. Hee!

for more ... Koala love story wins hearts after deadly Aussie fires 

kayay kindly let me know the anecdote behind the CFA guy and the koala ...

David Tree noticed the koala moving gingerly on scorched paws as his fire patrol passed. Clearly in pain, the animal stopped when it saw Tree.

"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," Tree told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "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."

The team called animal welfare officers to pick up the koala Sunday, the day after deadly firestorms swept southern Victoria state.

( pic is under the cut )

I haven't done anything at home for the last 4 days. I've just been following the news on the fires. It's times like these I feel I should be back in Australia. I feel so terribly for the people who have lost loved ones and property. My thoughts are with you all.

I collected together some photos images of the bushfires in Victoria and NSW. They are all over the Net but I wanted to put them in one place, because I'll never find them later.

My friend L, who just flew back to Victoria for the spring break is ok. I rang her this morning and she said the fires stopped about 15 km north of her.

It's all been emotionally devastating and I keep tearing up.

ETA: Anyone wanting to make a donation I think The Australian Red Cross's Victorian Bushfires Appeal is probably the best place, if you have a credit card and can afford it. Also, the forms are internationally friendly.

Another alternative is The Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation Bushfire Appeal 2009, which will go to a range of charities helping the victims directly on site.

And for any touched by the plight of the animals there's Wildlife Victoria. Thanks to ancientcitadel for the link.



( her beauty and her terror )