Sam the Koala - David Tree on US TV (Today Show) 12 Feb 2009

[shantaljayde]

this is my best friends daddy <3

[kingkimber]

Rest in Peace Sam. The face of Hope. Dead at 4years old.

[kellyknight13]

wwhooo cares how much media attention the koala gets and how much david gets. it isnt often that a wild koala lets an average man come up to it and let it drink from them. this was an amazing thing that came out of the devastating fires.

[MONOMANCHILD]

Gordonfreeman502..<< whats wrong he did the right thing?? so shut the fuck up!

[Jetpackswithmonkeys]

@MONOMANCHILD HTF did he do the right thing?

[bpetridis]

I live in an area that was hit hard by these fires. No one minds that a story people can relate to came out of this and grabbed some media attention. The photos of Sam wih David have raised a lot of Money for the Country Fire Authority who are all volunteers, so debating the fine points of this is a little silly. Anything that helps these the CFA financially is going to be well received.

[Gordonfreeman502]

I also live in Victoria - In fact I know this guy - He's a bus driver at my school - he's decent enough, but I really don't think he deserves this kind of attention.

+ I also know someone that took a picture of Dave Tree with the Koala - he sold it to the American Media, & pocketed $125,000.

[Devoted2Clois]

@bpetridis so sorry that you live in an area that was hit...i lived near enough but was not affected by the fire...im sorry. this guy is amazing

[frankovich213]

@bpetridis How are you guys going now? I'm from South Australia so I wasn't affected but even though SA and Victoria are usually bitter rivals, we were all hoping that you guys were ok during that terrible time. It was very sad to see.

[mudchair16]

Funny how the media works. 200+ people die grusome deaths, but a cute cuddly 'Koala Bear' receiving care from a regular aussie makes the headlines. Maybe Im just being naive, but I feel as if the US media only takes notice once they can link a stereotype to a story.

[PerculaPlushPet]

My heart aches for those 200+ people who died gruesome deaths; but the same is true for the millions of defenseless animals who have died deaths just as gruesome that we so sadly distance ourselves from. It is a story of hope out of the ashes and if this brings attention to the plight of animals as individuals who suffer real pain and fear, then they too are worthy of consideration. The stereotype thing, I guess so; but branding the US media is a stereotype too. It's no different anywhere else.

[fivecougarsoz]

errrrrrrr ... the 200+ people that died made a lot more headlines than the koala did, so your stupid point isn't just stupid, it's flawed.

[verticalsmurf]

The thing is mudchair, we humans can relate to other humans. We can (kind of) understand how they would have chosen to stay and try to protect their homes. We also know they were warned, and that the majority had ample opportunity to get away, but chose to stay and fight.

These weren't natural fires, most were deliberatly lit, so, the animals didn't get their usual natural warnings that the shit was about to hit the fan, so they couldn't get away. Animal deaths are no less gruesome than humans.

[stecfc]

I really hope you guys in Aus catch the culprits and send them to life in prison. Great story. Devastated for you all from an Englishman.

[MizziLea22]

Thanks for the beautiful comment, one arsonist has been caught (he lit them local to him with lives lost and countless homes and animals). So lets hope others sick idiots are removed from society as well.

[Gordonfreeman502]

There should be more of a punishment to the cunt (I know people don't like this word, but it's the only way to describe him) who lit those fires - I think it would be worth introducing a death sentence in Australia just for that guy.

[juz1093]

What this fire fighter did was great - but I'm sure hundreds of other CFA volunteers rescued animals too. Just because this guy got filmed doing it makes it look like he was the only one. Kind of unfair to the other's that did the right thing but aren't getting any recognition.

[razz1965]

It's ok mate! All the other fire fighters and volunteers would be wrapped about this. They are all mates out there even if they don't know each other. They wouldn't feel jealous or overlooked. It is something like this that shows the world that the people out there fighting this catastrophe are just blokes and sheilas....... with bloody big hearts!

[SirrenaLives]

the arsonist is actually artsonists with an "s" as in more than one and they havn't caught them yet and its not a bear. its a marsupial! :D only in america do you guys call him koala bears...we actually call them Koalas. lol and there are lots of other animals that represent Oz. The emu and the kangaroo are a good example...they made it to the face of some of our money over here.

[Sinatra877]

I'm so happy that there is some good that came from this tragedy. I'm glad they caught the Arsonist. There isn't a better representative of Austrailia's wildlife than a Koala Bear. I'm glad Sam is getting the care that she needs.

[fivecougarsoz]

just for the record, Koalas aren't bears, they're marsupials :)

nobody minds them being called that though because they do look a lot like childrens teddy bears

[ciaobellakate]

There are countless arsonists (not to mention copycats who went in afterwards and attempted to re-light these fires) responsible for these deaths, not just one. This is a large landmass burnt we are talking about here. How could one person be responsible?