Volunteer firefighter Dave Tree came across the stricken koala, affectionately named Sam, cowering in a burned out section of a forest at Mirboo North, some 150km southeast of Melbourne.

As a colleague filmed him, he approached the koala and offered the terrified animal some water, gently talking until the koala put a paw on his hand and began drinking from the plastic water bottle.



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I love that...such a touching story in the middle of all that tragedy.

I saw that in the paper -- it was really nice to see it.

And Sam turned out to be a female.

Sharjan, you're safe, right?

Sam melted my heart, too... the scope of the awfulness of the fires in Australia simply numbs the mind. All those poor folks and people!

I am glad to learn that Sam is going to be okay.

I just noticed that YouTube have removed that video for some reason. Warm Fuzzies must be against thier rules or something.

But I've found another copy of it anyway.

*walks away shaking head*

hah that cool and good to see

And apparently Sam now has a new sweetheart -- another rescued koala, named Bob.

They intend to release both koalas back into the wild as soon as their burns have healed.

Unless, of course, Sam builds them a little koala-sized stargate and they both escape to another planet.

Hi Beth, Thanks for thinking of me.

I live in South Australia which is the next State over heading west, so I have been safe. I also live in the suburbs near our capital city of Adelaide but I do have 2 Stepsons and their families who live in the country in high fire risk areas, similar to those in Victoria. It is always extremely worrying on high fire risk days and we were exceptionally lucky here this past fortnight.

I haven't been online much as my dad had a heart attack 3 weeks ago and has had 2 procedures to insert stents into the blocked areas. Have spent most nights in hospital keeping him company as he is a terrible patient. He is home now and doing really well physically, but very up and down emotionally, which apparently is normal. The doctor reckons he should be right for another 10 years now.

Hey Rocky, I noticed You Tube has now listed a reason for deleting the video someone has put in a copyright complaint on it.