Amanda Keller's Heartbreaking Tribute To Lewis The Koala

Lewis, a badly burned koala that was rescued by a heroic woman during a NSW bushfire, has been put to sleep.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jonesy and Amanda in the morning.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
It was very sad news about Lewis. The Koala that
was the little Koala that we saw rescued up near
Port mccroary by that lady Tony. She took her top
off and wrapped little Lewis up in there in her
top because that's the only thing she had Lewis.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Lewis was so disoriented, he was sort of heading back
into the flame.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
And he had terrible, terrible burn injuries, and a lot
of things with burn injuries, which we saw at the
Barley bombings, they get worse before they get better, and
for Lewis, it was beyond anything that he could deal with.
So they had to put him down, which.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Is so sad. And I wept as I read it yesterday,
and I'm trying to work out why I was so
affected by it, and I think it's because Lewis and
how we feel symbolizes all the hopelessness that we feel
at the moment, the powerlessness that we feel. It feels
like with our drafts, with our fires, with our smoke hays,

(00:55):
with our storms, our catastrophic behavior, that we're heading towards
some kind of apocalypse. It really feels like that. I
think these crazy extremes, our country doesn't feel like it
used to. It feels scary at the moment, and people
want help, they want guidance, they want action, and we're

(01:15):
just not getting it. And I think the woman that
save lewis Tony Dougherty. I think a lot of us
wish we were Tony because she did something, she saw something,
and she did something and I just and I'm so
sorry we couldn't save him. So you know, look, I'm
crying now, but I've just felt this sense of despair.
And I'm an optimistic person, yeah, and it just really

(01:37):
hit me that we need to make this mean something
and a lot of people millions of dollars have been
donated to the Paulacroary kohile A hospital there. We need
to repopulate that area with the surviving koalas that's their
breeding ground. We've lost so many. But also let's urge
our leaders on all sides to do something a plan,
because my fear is that this is the new normal

(01:59):
and no one's planning for it. To what they're doing.
In Sweden, they had terrible bush fires. I know they're
not eucalypse. They had probably pine trees. Two years ago,
they had terrible fires that they just couldn't put out.
They dropped a bomb, a bomb bomb, yet from three
thousand meters. It was a bomb that had no shrapnel
in it, and the shock wave snuffed out the fire

(02:23):
one hundred meters from where they dropped.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
So what reddi Dare used to do? Remember the guy
with the oil rigs?

Speaker 1 (02:28):
What did hit?

Speaker 2 (02:28):
The oil reg would be on fire and Red A
Dare would go into the fire with a big bomb
and blow up the oil out the fire.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
And of course, you know any wildlife surrounding that is
not going to survive a shockwave. Let's face it, those
animals were going to die anyway. But this is how
they put out fires.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
But suggesting that he is, well, why.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Not discuss it. They've had this for a year. Where
is the plan if this is our new normal, if
this is what we're heading towards. And I think that's
why it really hit me with Lewis's sense of despair,
of no one's planning. And if you are, tell us
how you're planning. Give us some leadership on all sides,
Give us some leadership all those the people who all

(03:06):
the fire service people that wanted to meet with Scott
Morrison to say let's formulate a plan. He said, no, thanks,
I've got my own plan.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
I know we're hearing from these guys who have been
fighting fires for fifty years and they're all saying, well,
it's unprecedented, it's unprecedented.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Let's and what let's plan.

Speaker 2 (03:21):
This isn't about climate change, whether it's man made or not.
It's just about it's reality something.

Speaker 1 (03:25):
It's reality and I'm scared we're going to have it
every year. And you know, let's make Lewis's death mean
something good.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
I like seeing you. I don't see no, I don't
like seeing you like this because you're.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
An Optimistice yes, I thought this is the new Australia
and it's awful. Join and Amanda in the morning.