I’m finding it a tad difficult to concentrate today for the usual reasons, and because of the Scottish journalist who interviewed a koala in full protective gear.
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Debi Edward, UK’s ITV News Asia correspondent, was reporting on the bushfires earlier this year when she was told that some locals had a surprise for her reserved only for “special visitors”. She was going to hold the koala’s terrifying cousin, the drop bear, on camera. Now Debi doesn’t know much about drop bears so she’s told some basic facts about the animal. Drop bears are “vicious”, have fangs, and are poisonous.
I learned about drop bears in grade 6, right before camp, and I fully believed in them so I can totally empathise with Debi. Plus, she’s in an unfamiliar setting and whatnot.
To protect her from the feral creature, Debi was geared up in full body armour complete with goggles and gloves and boots. Not to mention, someone had a dart gun handy… just in case.
Enter the dreaded drop bear. And this is when I start to lose it.
“I’ve been told that this is quite a dangerous bear, it’s been known to attack people,” Debi told the camera, very much sounding like she’s about to shit herself. “It’s called a drop bear because they drop out of the trees to attack people.”
You guys, I’ve been laughing at my desk for 12 minutes. I’ve lost it. This has done me in on a Monday morning. There’s no recovering.
“I’m trying not to be worried because I’ve been told that he can sense if I’m worried,” she continued.
Oh, Debi.
I absolutely do not blame her for saying “fucking Aussies” afterwards – what a bloody good sport.
Australian video producer Sean Mulcahy, who originally shared the clip on Facebook, urged viewers to donate to a GoFundMe campaign raising money for the wildlife on Kangaroo Island – many of which have been injured in the devastating fires.
“If you enjoyed this video, please don’t let Debi’s humiliation be in vain,” Mulcahy wrote, linking to the campaign run by the Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park.
“In times of tragedy and incessant misery, sometimes humour is the best medicine.”
Appearing on Today this morning, Debi absolutely kicked herself for not guessing it was a prank. But she was really glad to have given the locals a good laugh.
“That was the first time we really saw Sam laughing that day. He’d been up all night battling fires, trying to keep the parks safe, trying to keep the animals safe, and he was absolutely exhausted.
“It was great to see him smiling, having a joke, and forgetting about all those hardships for just a few minutes and have a laugh.”
