Healing Koalas Steal Hearts

The survival of two burned koalas is giving Aussies a lift amid the catastrophic wildfires that have killed 180 people and possibly millions of animals, MSNBC reports. The more famous of the two is Sam, who became a YouTube sensation when she took water and offered a singed paw to a firefighter. But Sam has found a fellow koala buddy, Bob, at an animal shelter.

"They keep putting their arms around each other and giving each other hugs," said the director of the shelter. "They really have made friends and it is quite beautiful to see after all this. It's been horrific." Both are nursing burned paws but should be able to return to the wild. They share the shelter with other koalas, kangaroos, possums, and wallabies, and rescuers expect the makeshift menagerie to grow. (More wildfires stories.)