SYDNEY — It was a chance encounter in the charred landscape of Australia’s deadly wildfires. 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 said 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.”
Often mistakenly called koala bears because they resemble a child’s teddy bear, the marsupial is actually a rather grumpy creature with a loud growl. It rarely comes down from the trees and doesn’t like walking. Koalas are especially vulnerable to wildfires because they move slowly on the ground.
The wildfires cut through parks and forests and sent countless wombats and other native species fleeing. The fires also razed farmland, killing or panicking sheep and cattle.
Tree said he found the koala Sunday in a burned-out forest near Mirboo North, about 90 miles east of Melbourne. Koalas normally drink almost no water because they get nearly all their fluids from the leaves they eat.
The koala was rescued and is now recovering with antibiotics, Jenny Shaw of the Mountain Ash Wildlife Shelter told reporters.
“She is lovely — very docile — and she has already got an admirer. A male koala keeps putting his arms around her,” Shaw said. “It will be a long road to recovery, but she should be able to be released back into the wild in about five months.”
Despite her gender, the now famous koala is nicknamed Sam.
