Feb 6, 2009: Hot and wet ... koala.
 

These pictures are being passed around on the email grapevines down here. They came with the following explanation:

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There seems to be some kind of comment on the tip of my tongue, but I can't seem to think of it. :right:

Step 2: Empty one (1) packet of marinate into the water and gently stir so as not to disturb the little bugger.
Step 3: Let soak for 40 minutes.
∙∙∙
Step 8: Remove foil and serve with cold beer.

aHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhh... Is clearly what he's thinking.

(Now if someone would hand him some youcalleepeedus he'd be all fixed up.)

Sorry the eucalyptus tastes weak, all the trees have been drained...






...boiled the sap down for cough syrup.

The real story.

Heat relief or 'roid relief?

Super-cute Friday pic!
Well done, Zen.

LOL Koalas:

I think ice would have been better. Who wants a watered-down koala?

I think my cutometer just exploded.

When he gets mad will he eat, shoot and leave?

Great photos, I feel his pain. it has been 42 degrees here the last couple of days and this Sunday will reach 47 where I live. For a day it will be the hottest place on the Planet. The water in the pool is 33 degrees celcius, hardly worth it.

It's -5c here.

so cute!

except for the strange alien mouthy appendages. and the actual appendages.

I believe you're thinking of pandas. Imagine getting a panda in a tub of water!

I have only ever experienced -8c once when I went up the mountains in winter. However I used to work in freezers that would get to -16c but I dont think that counts.

Just add water:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/38/78...d5b41651_d.jpg

WTF? No one has posted "I haz a bukket, eh,mate" or "nise hooman share bukket"?

RFN it is 10.24 am and 40 degrees. Probably hotter where this little feller lives. Cool change some time this arvo. :angel:

That is the cutest thing ever. Ever.

I want one. A Koala that it. I haz a bukkit -I found one in the lolrus enclosure.

After he finishes his beer, chop up a couple of onions into that water and bring the heat up reeeeeeeeaaaalllll slow for about 10 hours and.....:right:


CROCKED KOALA!!! :sweat: :thumb: :sweat:

Several cow orkers found the middle picture to be disturbing on some level. I have left it up as the screen background on the work computer.

It replaced Thomas Jefferson. I have no idea why a picture of Thomas Jefferson had been the screen background for the last week.

I hate to upset the Koala bucket, but apparently Koalas don't taste very good. A lot like a mouth full of cough medicine gone wrong.

I imagine there'd be a lot of dead baby birds with the heat they're having down south.

Anyway, I'll take my depressing comments somewhere else. I don't know what made me think of that right now, but I've depressed myself with the thought.

It's got that unpredictable psycho look. :crazy:

Yeah. We react to that automatically.

Very visceral.

yes, see? It's got . . . tentacles or something.

Just a dredlock beard.

They are cute, but soooo nasty when they want to be.

I have scars to prove it, I tried to rescue one off the road and the ungrateful hooer near took my knee off.

I dont hold a grudge though....still cute.

OMG that is soooo cute! I love animals!

Begging
 

Those guys must be tourists.

AWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
Even cuter than the original cuteness.

For some reason I hear him with a German accent though.
I have no idea why.

"Wasser? Bitte? Kann ich etwas Wasser haben?

begging for water? wow. smart little buggers

It's a plot. This guy is getting their water, a couple of miles up the road, the bicyclists will suffer dehydration and be forced to stop because they gave all their water to the cute teddy bear-like creature ... then the rest of the pack will descend upon the unwary, dessicated cyclists and strip their bones clean.

And everybody will blame the dingos.

Because something as cute as a koala can't be that dangerous ...

lmao.

I think you're right, wolf, and I'm frightened. What cute cuddlers in the States are pulling the very same stunt?

He's lucky that koala didn't try and run up his leg. He wouldn't be so 'cute' then. lol

Give 'em half a chance and they'll kill you and everyone you love.

I've seen a grown man hospitalised, (koala clawed the inside of his forearm open) trying to pick up a wild koala.

You want hot, wet koalas? Want to see them in pools, in pond, getting wild with bowls and bottles and, god help us, watering cans? See creative new uses for kitchen implements? Click here!!!111!!! Must be over 18 months.

Yeah seriously.

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Okay I fooled with that last one a bit.


But seriously, there are 22 photos of people hand-watering Koalas, all taken in the Adelaide area during the last heatwave. We are a bunch of softies really.

Damm, look at the claws on that bugger.

Oh, and I can't believe Cellars have stolen that picture and doctored it up with naughty comments. :D

OMG OMG OMG that is too cute!

All the better to emasculate you with, my dear!

Notice, also, that it has two opposable thumbs. It does make tracking them easier, but puts advanced technology within their grasp.

I see they left out the next pic where the bike rider dives out of the way as a car ran it over at about 40km/hr.

I've read that those little suckers can actually be quite nasty, even when completely unprovoked. Still, I think it's be cool to have em hangin around the yard.

Just have to remember they are not teddy bears but wild animals.

They are very noisy in mating season. They make a really horrible grunting noise that goes on all night long, and is very difficult to sleep through, and it's true that they can do some damage. If for some reason they come down from the trees and then they get a fright and you happen to be the closest thing that looks like a tree, they'll run up your leg and rip it to shreds.

I wouldn't say they're particularly vicious though. Mostly if they're on the ground they're putting most of their effort into thinking about going back up a tree for a feed and a snooze. They spend something like 70% of their time sleeping.

The group that gets the most damage from koalas are tourists who think they can just go over and pat them if they're on the ground or down low. Those things have claws! Leave them alone!!!

So you wouldn't recommend holding hands with them?

Not under normal circumstances. ;)

Nothing is normal at the moment though.

The email I got that picture with came via a firefighter, and said the little feller got through three bottles of water before he was done.

I find it a very touching picture; the burnt out bush, the tired, hard fireman, so tenderly caring for the little koala, with such anthropomophic posture and body language between them.

I can only guess that the fire there was less intense - there is unburnt bracken in the background, and a crown fire kills everything up to the tree tops, including the koalas.

I got the email showing the pictures you posted from a friend in Australia last Monday (the 3rd) but the pictures of the bicycle riders and the picture of the fireman I found on the net. There's been tons of pictures posted on the net, mostly very sad, some down right frightening, but a few heart warming like the fireman.

[opinion] Most Aussies are salt of the Earth, strong character, types, that will take this disaster in stride and bounce back smarter and stronger.[opinion]

That Koala with the firefighter is now famous. That incident in the photo was also captured on video, and the TV news followed the story.
She was quite trusting of humans, was patted, picked up, named Sam, taken to an animal rescue volunteer's house, her burns treated (on the kitchen floor), and has been placed with another koala with whom she has bonded. She'll be in care for up to 7 months, they reckon.

Yeah, then it will get the medical bill...

Beautiful stuff. Some times people don't suck.

My sentiments exactly. :o


aside: I can't read your user title without cracking up, Griff.

:) *sniff* once in a while, eh?

Charity Call
 

This is aimed both to Cellar Dwellars, and especially to the many visitors who pop in for the Image of the Day.

I know we should prioritise human welfare in such a disaster but the charitable response to human need has been amazing and there hasn't been as much media attention on the impact on wildlife. Unlike human care agencies, wildlife carers receive NO government funding and desperately need supplies to care for the bushfire victims.

A friend of mine with links to animal welfare groups (sensible ones like RSPCA, not PETA) has provided me with this list of legitimate groups caring for injured and displaced wildlife.

So, if you want to help the koalas and kangaroos and all the other cute furry critters which are injured, homeless and faced with starvation, please donate to any of the following.

: shakes tin, smiles :

BTW, that firefighter's name is David TREE :lol:
He says the reason the koala was holding his hand was that he had put some water in his cupped palm for the koala to drink, but her paw was burned and she preferred to soak it in the water for pain relief.

ETA: They will need money for 6 to 12 months to come, so even if you are visiting this site months after this post, your donation is still very welcome.

Thanks for that Zen. We'll put a bit in the tin later on today. :)

I went to one earlier today, and when it got to "state or territory" for where I am, all I got was Aussie territories. I did pick US as country previously.

I'll check more when I feel up to it. Thanks for the llinks Zen.

I see the koala rescue thing has been picked up by Time as a photo essay:

http://www.time.com/time/photogaller...881664,00.html

From Cloud's Time link;:lol2:

Not just fires, floods in Queensland.