Getting your player ready...
ADELAIDE, Australia — A koala made famous by a photo of her drinking from a firefighter’s water bottle as wildfires ravaged Australia this year is about to undergo a risky surgery.
Sam the koala suffered second- and third-degree burns to her paws in the February fires and is recovering at the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter in Victoria state.
But shelter spokeswoman Peita Elkhorne said Wednesday that Sam had developed abdominal cysts due to a disease called urogenital chlamydiosis, which affects up to half of Australia’s koala population. The disease can cause infertility, urinary-tract infections and blindness.
Sam will undergo surgery today, and the prognosis for surviving the operation is not good, Elkhorne said.
