Koala Relief

99% of the time, I am irritated about annoying, endlessly forwarded emails.

But then you add koalas.

I am putty in a koala's hands.

I got this email, and I am dying of cuteness overload mixed with koala pity:

KOALAS DURING THE HEAT WAVE IN AUSTRALIA

Australia has had a record heat wave with devastating fires as a result. Koalas if you don't know are not social and don't come out of trees or down to the suburbs very often. But the main thing is that they don' t actually drink water normally at any time. All their food and water source is provided from the eucalyptus leaves that they eat. That's why they sleep about 22 hours of the day because the calories and liquid intake is not enough to keep them awake long enough, but they consume enormous amounts of leaves in that time. So the following photos are even more amazing once that fact is known.

From a Victorian friend: I truly am from a remarkable country! And we have THE cutest animals (AND some of the most deadly - I know!) But I thought you would appreciate how cute this is...! At home in Victoria the temperature has been above 44 degrees (about 111 F) all week and they are forecasting another week of 40+ temperatures. Power is failing, trains have stopped running because tracks are buckling under the heat . It's just scorching, and it seems that the people are not the only ones suffering. Check out these photos of a little Koala which just walked onto a back porch looking for a bit of heat relief. The woman filled up a bucket for it and this is what happened!