(If anyone is interested Tim (whose photos of Leonard Cohen amongst others have graced this blog) has started a 'sheer joy of having seen Leonard Cohen on thisworld tour' group on Facebook. You can join it here.)
This astonishing photo was on the cover of yesterday's 'Herald Sun' here in Melbourne. Koalas do not usually behave like that as they are so timid.
"SAM became the most famous koala in the world when firefighter David Tree stopped to give her a drink amid the devastation."
Pictures of Sam, travelled around the globe and featured in major newspapers including The New York Times, London's The Sun and on CNN.The image provided a much-needed picture of hope in a week filled with news of despair. Yesterday Sam was recovering in Mountain Ash Wildlife Shelter. Full story here.
UPDATE: this video has now surfaced.
David Tree, the firefighter said he was in the middle of backburning at Mirboo North when he saw the stricken koala. “I could see she had sore feet and was in trouble, so I pulled over the fire truck. She just plonked herself down, as if to say ‘I’m beat’,” he said.
“I offered her a drink and she drank three bottles.
“The most amazing part was when she grabbed my hand. I will never forget that.”
Mr Tree and his brigade then received an emergency call-out to save a house, but minutes later Sam was picked up by wildlife carers.
"I knew something was not right. The sky went crimson with ash and I could smell all the smoke in the atmosphere. It was like a thick, dense, dirty fog. There was smoke everywhere. It looked like Armageddon or something from a horror movie. I hope I never experience anything like that again."
Read this Brit's account of what Melbourne was like yesterday at the 'BBC' here. More here.
"...One silver lining amid the devastation: the fires have not posed a significant threat to more populous areas, including Melbourne, as they sweep across rural outskirts of southeastern Australia...Still...the state is so dry from lack of rain that there are no safe areas. Wildfires are an annual event in Australia. But this year, a combination of factors has made them especially intense: a drought, dry bush and one of the most powerful heat waves in memory. Temperatures in parts of Melbourne reached 48 degrees Celsius (118 degrees Fahrenheit) in the last few weeks. Dozens of heat-related deaths have been reported.
By Sunday, the temperatures had dropped to the mid-20s in the area. Officials were hoping for some help from milder weather moving in. Droplets of rain had started to fall in some areas. Northern Australia, on the other hand, is grappling with a different problem. Sixty percent of the state of Queensland was flooded, officials reported, and residents were warned to be on the lookout for crocodiles in urban areas..."
(Photo by TimN)
