With so many animals affected by The Australian bushfires, officials have been forced to find innovative ways to help the helpless animals. They decided to start using planes and helicopters to drop thousands of kilograms of sweet potatoes and carrots to feed the starving animals.
The project is being ran by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service has been named ‘Operation Rock Wallaby’.
The main purpose of this project is to feed the animals since the bushfires have limited their food so much.
New South Wales Environment Minister Matt Kean said while the animals have managed to flee the fires they’re left without a source of food.
Matt Kean said, “The wallabies typically survive the fire itself, but are then left stranded with limited natural food as the fire takes out the vegetation around their rocky habitat. The wallabies were already under stress from the ongoing drought, making survival challenging for the wallabies without assistance.”
He also said, “When we can, we are also setting up cameras to monitor the uptake of the food and the number and variety of animals there.”
They have spent weeks dropping food for rock wallaby colonies in the Capertree and Wolgan valleys, The kangaroo Valley, Yengo National Park and around Jenolan, Oxley Wild Rivers and Carracubundi national parks.
They have dropped almost 5,000 pounds of fresh vegetables for the animals so far.
More info: Animals Australia
After all of this heartbreaking tragedy, let us just hope that many of these poor animals can make a full recovery.