Tidbits on Sam and David Tree aka "When will that woman stop annoying me with Sammy the Koala pics?"
Heh! You must be sick to death of me bleating on about Sammy the Koala by now! Anyway, I wanted to collect together some vids of her and David Tree and other relevant animals & people for posterity. There's repeat footage in them (Sorry!), but all the clips under the cut have something a bit different. Poor David isn't used to the limelight and he stumbles a bit and gets things wrong, but he's a real dear, and it's lovely seeing him trying to give credit to the other deserving volunteer workers. You can read what he says about the timing of the footage, the international attention and how much he is out of his comfort zone here.
The timing of when the footage was taken that is referred to in the above, is not really an issue to my mind. Australian summers are one long bushfire threat. I think the timing is actually happy coincidence. What people haven't seemed to cotton onto is that the actual backburn these guys did might have been the cause of Sammy's plight. No one has said if she was on the side of the road where the natural fire was or whether she was in the control backburn area. This raises one of the hardest questions about fire control in Aus. Do you burn, knowing that you will be killing and injuring wildlife, with the crumb of comfort of knowing that at least some species may stand more of a chance, or let the out of control fires happen? She did at least survive, whereas if a crown fire had gone through her odds would definitely have been much worse. What an awful dilemma.
Article: Firefighter recognised for aiding koala
Portrait Shot and Burned koala paw (not Sam's)
It looks like Sam has been posed for this shot! Her legs and paws are in a different position to the other pic like this. I was really interested to read somewhere that the Strezlecki Range koalas are much fluffier, (long-furred) and rarer than other more common varieties of Eastern Seaboard Koalas. She's very pretty in this shot, isn't she?
Sammy the koala and other bush victims get treated
Sam the Koala David Tree on US TV Today Show 12 Feb 2009
Channel 9 News: Sam the Koala SAVED by CFA firefighter David Tree after Australia Bush Fires
Mystery Girl Koala Victim: this clip is quite educational about koala care. You can also watch it at AWARE
Snippet with David Tree - he's a bit more relaxed in this one
Interview conducted by choppering in a camera for International News
The timing of when the footage was taken that is referred to in the above, is not really an issue to my mind. Australian summers are one long bushfire threat. I think the timing is actually happy coincidence. What people haven't seemed to cotton onto is that the actual backburn these guys did might have been the cause of Sammy's plight. No one has said if she was on the side of the road where the natural fire was or whether she was in the control backburn area. This raises one of the hardest questions about fire control in Aus. Do you burn, knowing that you will be killing and injuring wildlife, with the crumb of comfort of knowing that at least some species may stand more of a chance, or let the out of control fires happen? She did at least survive, whereas if a crown fire had gone through her odds would definitely have been much worse. What an awful dilemma.
Article: Firefighter recognised for aiding koala
Portrait Shot and Burned koala paw (not Sam's)
It looks like Sam has been posed for this shot! Her legs and paws are in a different position to the other pic like this. I was really interested to read somewhere that the Strezlecki Range koalas are much fluffier, (long-furred) and rarer than other more common varieties of Eastern Seaboard Koalas. She's very pretty in this shot, isn't she?
Sammy the koala and other bush victims get treated
Click to viewSam the Koala David Tree on US TV Today Show 12 Feb 2009
Channel 9 News: Sam the Koala SAVED by CFA firefighter David Tree after Australia Bush Fires
Mystery Girl Koala Victim: this clip is quite educational about koala care. You can also watch it at AWARE
Snippet with David Tree - he's a bit more relaxed in this one
Interview conducted by choppering in a camera for International News