Bushfire koala image mocked by US gossip site TMZ.com

In a post about Mr Tree giving his water bottle to the koala he found stumbling through burnt out bushland, TMZ.com wrote:

“After battling some of the worst wildfires ever to hit Australia, a firefighter shared his bottled water with a pampered koala on Monday. Afterwards the new friends went to Pilates and dined on sushi.”

Many readers hit out at the article, “Koala to Firefighter: I Won't Tap That!”, saying it was an unnecessary and insensitive shot at Victoria’s firefighters and the victims of the fire.

“Sorry TMZ there is no humour to find in over 200 people being killed in these fires,” Cat wrote.

Bobby wrote: “Wow classy any 9/11 jokes about towers you want to throw in? How about spousal abuse jokes - seems like the perfect time. Sometimes I have to question your hiring practices.”