Thousands of pounds of sweet potatoes and carrots fell from the sky over fire-scarred parts of New South Wales last week. The target was the brush-tailed rock-wallaby, an endangered species whose rocky homes had burned.
The state government arranged the drops as part of a wider recovery effort for wildlife after the fires. According to a government media release, almost 2,000 kilograms (about 4,400 pounds) of vegetables went to 11 rock-wallaby colonies.
State Environment Minister Matt Kean explained the problem in a statement. “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,” he said. Early assessments showed the habitat of several important populations had been burnt. Drought had already put the animals under stress, Kean said, so surviving without help was hard.
The drops will go on, paired with control of feral predators. “At this stage, we expect to continue providing supplementary food to rock-wallaby populations until sufficient natural food resources and water become available again,” Kean said.
The wider toll
Chris Dickman, an ecology professor at the University of Sydney, estimates that more than 1 billion animals have died in the fires, some directly and some afterward. Creatures that escape the flames by fleeing or going underground come back to land that cannot feed them, he said, and may fall prey to feral predators.
Rescue work is under way elsewhere in Australia too. On Kangaroo Island, off the South Australian coast, tens of thousands of koalas have died and several other unique species have been badly hit. The South Australian government and Nature Foundation SA are working together to raise money and rebuild habitat.
In New South Wales, more than a hundred fires were still burning on Sunday, though none at emergency level. Rain is forecast for the week ahead, which should give firefighters some relief. A firefighter died over the weekend in Victoria, bringing the death toll from the bushfires to 27. The NSW Rural Fire Service confirmed that more than 2,000 homes have been destroyed this fire season.
People who want to help can give to the Nature Foundation’s Wildlife Recovery Fund, WWF Australia, the rescue group WIRES, Zoos Victoria’s bushfire fund, Australia Zoo’s Wildlife Hospital or Port Macquarie Koala Hospital.
