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Adelaide, Australia. Sam the koala, who gained worldwide fame and sympathy when she was rescued during devastating wildfires in Australia this year, was euthanized on Thursday after a veterinarian found that the cysts that threatened her life were inoperable.

The 4-year-old koala had developed the cysts associated with urogenital chlamydiosis, which affects more than 50 percent of Australia’s koala population.

During surgery, the disease was found to be so advanced that Sam was euthanized, said Peita Elkhorne of TressCox law firm, which represents the shelter where the koala had lived since the February fires.

“It was so severe that there was no possible way to be able to manage her pain,” Elkhorne said in a statement. “All of those who have been involved with Sam are devastated with this loss.”

John Butler, the veterinarian who was conducting the operation, said Sam was too scarred inside to carry out the surgery.

“She was going to be left in pain in the state she was in,” Butler said. “We had no hope of helping her any further.”

As wildfires were raging out of control in February, Sam was spotted by a firefighter as she made her way on scorched paws past their patrol north of Melbourne . The firefighter was photographed holding a bottle of water to her lips, an image that resonated around the world.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said that photo made Sam a symbol of hope for Australians.

“I think that gave people of the world a great sense that this country, Australia, could come through those fires, as we have,” Rudd said. “And Sam the koala was part of the symbolism of that. It’s tragic that Sam the koala is no longer with us.”

Sam suffered second and third-degree burns to her paws and had been recuperating at the Southern Ash Wildlife Shelter. Officials there had said she would be returned to the wild within months after she was completely healed.

Associated Press