Popular weatherman for Sunrise, Sam Mac, has returned to work after taking a few days off to mourn the death of his much-loved cat, Coco.
The Channel Seven star revealed in an emotional post shared to social media over the weekend that his beloved feline, who has well-known among viewers, had sadly been put to sleep.
Speaking to co-hosts David Koch and Nat Barr on Wednesday’s show, Sam opened up about the “extremely difficult” last few days without his four-legged pal.
“My beloved Coco, my rescue cat, who we featured on the show for many, many years, we sadly had to say goodbye on the weekend,” he said.
“It was extremely difficult, any pet lover or anyone who has been through that knows how hard it is, they are family, they are so much more than just a cat or just a dog.
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“The Sunrise family got around me, you guys sent me flowers, and people understand it’s real grief when you lose an animal and I’m still, I guess, processing it.”
Sam said he wanted to say a “big, heartfelt thank you” to the “tens of thousands of people who reached out” to offer their messages of support. Sam had his feline friend, a Burmilla, for more than a decade after rescuing her from a shelter.
Coco regularly featured on Sunrise, in Sam’s social media posts and alongside her owner on the cover of his 2021 book, Accidental Weatherman.
She was also the first-ever cover cat on Pussweek magazine and Sam took her as his guest to the Logies in 2019.
“We’ve had so many fun moments, all to promote animal rescue, it’s something I’m extremely proud of,” Sam said.
The breakfast TV presenter had set up a fundraiser in honour of Coco, following her death.
“I was hoping to raise $1000 and we’ve raised over $21,000,” Sam revealed.
Sunrise co-host Nat Barr then revealed that one of her own furry friends had also recently passed away after almost two decades with her family.
“It wasn’t a good week for cats,” the mother-of-two said.
“We had to put our own cat Flash down on Friday night.
“We had her for 18 years, she was a loved member of the family, the kids have grown up with her,” said Nat, who then joked that Flash was “not as famous as Coco”.
Images: Instagram
