RIP Koala Sam Dies During Surgery ~ Bushfire Tribute - True Blue

Song - True Blue sung by 10 yr old Jordan.
The main picture here is of Koala Sam, the picture that told the story of the Victorian fire tragedy to the world - the moment that CFA fireman David Tree gave Sam the koala a drink from his water bottle.
Thirsty Sam had third degree burns to his paws and drank tree bottles of water after the fires, which killed more than 181 people, destroyed whole towns and burnt out thousands of hectares of land, raged through the state.
But in one happy ending among all the horror stories, the saga of Sam and the fireman brought tears to the eyes of many. They were later reunited after Sam's burns were treated and then she was brought together with boyfriend Bob who was found wandering, dazed, among the burnt out bush.
The human story of tragedy, triumph and miracle during the bushfires was mirrored in the animal world.
Thousands died in the blazes, but hundreds more were saved, some by luck and some by people.
The cost to the aimal population of the destroyed areass will never be fully known, but all species, from rabbits to roos, wombats to possums, dogs, cats and horses all suffered.
These photo's are just a glimpse into a few animal tales of survival against the intense heat of the blazing Austrlian bush.
For many people all they have left is their pets after the theri homes and everything they owned went up in flames.
As people and animals come to grips with the aftermath of the nations's most destructive natural event, they will continue to turn to each other for comfort.

UPDATE:
6.8.09 Koala Sam sadly passes away during surgery.
The four-year-old koala was put down on Thursday during major surgery to remove cysts associated with chlamydia, a life-threatening disease that causes cervical infection and has ravaged Victoria's koala population.

Glossy photographs of the picture of Sam and David Tree sharing a drink can be purchased by going to www.news.com.au/heraldsun/shop
They cost $20 each. All proceeds go to the CFA.

The above script taken from the weekend Bulletin in page 7's special pullout feature.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Victorian
• bushfires
• Australian
• wildlife
• True
• Blue
• country
• John
• Williamson
• Steve
• Irwin
• animals
• burnt
• reunited
• koala
• sam
• kangaroo
• westlife

[MegaChaz09]

My dad is David Tree the guy giving water to Sam, he is really sad :(

[littlecherubs]

Yeah its just so sad, he must be devastated to hear the news.

[sliferfan]

oh yeah that koala that died cause of the fire. wasn't this fire intentionally started, or am i thinking of of some other fire? RIP k-sam.

[littlecherubs]

Yeah the fires were started intentionally, so many kids, animals and people died.

[codysimpsonlover78]

why did the koala have to get surgery?

[elmoiskool11]

i love this song its an amazing song RIP Sam

[louda10]

RIP Sam!!!!!

[BrotherJason14]

love the song

[ThisApfelschorle]

I hope for you all in Australia that this never happen again...! It's a very, very sad story about the koala....!:( Greets from Germany

[annascat123]

aww thats so sad!!!! but good singing for the cause its a good song! i bet that there was alot more that died that day i feel so sad when i first started to watch it well love ya

[jdheather1]

Shucks! I never even realised you were doing any singing from the title of this vid. So it's another one for my treasure-house of Jordan's songs! Sad, sad situation though. Nice one kid, you really do care.

[kcliatt1]

Such a sad video. Great tribute though and good job on the song Jordan!

[CHOEYSANGEL]

NY COMPLIMENTS TO THE POSTER FOR THIS TRIBUTE,

VERY WELL DONE, SHOWS AUSSIE IS ALL IT'S GLORY AND PAIN,

CHOEYSANGEL

[freshdude63]

wow that koala really doesnt deserve that