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Wednesday, February 11, 2009

I don't know why people in need often leave us cold but animals don't
Posted by Jill | 5:12 AM
Perhaps it's because animals play no role in their own tragedies. After all, it isn't the animals who are destroying their own habitat and belching out greenhouse gases (well, except cows, but it's not like they can stop...if flatulence could be stopped at will males with a sophomoric sense of humor would have nothing to laugh at). And they don't understand the disasters that befall them. The dogs and cats left in New Orleans before and Hurricane Katrina, however understandably, had no idea why this was happening to them. And koalas didn't set the fires that are devastating Australia, either. So it's hard not to have your heartstrings tugged at things like this:



The koala rescued in the above video has been named Sam by the men who found her. She's a female, and has now bonded with another rescued koala:
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.

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."


But all is not happy endings in Victoria. The introduction to this video (not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach) says that over 5000 koalas alone have perished in this fire. And the injuries suffered by those animals that survive are heartbreaking:

workers at the shelter were scrambling to salve the wounds of possums, kangaroos, lizards — "everything and anything," Wood said.

"We had a turtle come through that was just about melted — still alive," Wood said. "The whole thing was just fused together — it was just horrendous. It just goes to show how intense (the fire) was in the area."

The animals arriving appear stressed, but generally seem to understand the veterinarians are trying to help them, Wood said. Kangaroos and koalas are widespread in Australia and are not particularly scared of humans.

Wildlife Victoria, a wildlife rescue group, has teams in place at several staging areas near the worst-hit regions, with volunteers seeing a range of injuries from burned lungs and smoke inhalation to singed paws.

Rescuers were just being allowed to venture into the blackened zones Wednesday, and while the scope of the impact on wildlife was still unclear, it was likely to be enormous, Wildlife Victoria president Jon Rowdon said.

"We've got a wallaby joey at the moment that has crispy fried ears because he stuck his head out of his mum's pouch and lost all his whiskers and cooked up his nose," he said. "They're the ones your hearts really go out to."

Rescuers had set up vaporizing tents to help creatures whose lungs were burned by the searing heat and smoke.

"There will probably be a significant number which probably can only be euthanized to end their suffering," Rowdon said. "And my heart goes out to the people who are given that task."

If you are in Australia, you can find out who needs help and what kind here. The Victoria RSPCA is accepting money donations specifically for animal efforts here. And the Australian Koala Foundation is here. And Wildlife Victoria is funding the rescue and rehabilitation efforts cited in the above article.

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