Carrots and sweet potatoes air-dropped into fire-ravaged Australia to feed displaced wallabies

Tim Baker14 January 2020

Thousands of carrots and sweet potatoes have been dropped from aircraft over fire-ravaged Australia to help feed displaced wallabies.

The marsupial care packages will hopefully provide sustenance to the animals who have escaped the raging wildfires but have nothing to eat.

Over the past week a total of around 2,200kg of vegetables have been dropped for wallaby colonies in Capertree and Wolgan valleys, Yengo National Park, the Kangaroo Valley, and around Jenolan, Oxley Wild Rivers and Curracubundi national parks.

New South Wales Environment Minister Matt Kean, whose constituency has seen some of the worst blazes, tweeted about the mission.

The wallabies have taken to the vegetables 
via Reuters

He 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."

Sweet potatoes and carrots being loaded onto a helicopter
via Reuters

He added: "When we can, we are also setting up cameras to monitor the uptake of the food and the number and variety of animals there."

The World Wildlife Fund estimates that 1.25 billion animals have been killed in the conflagration.

Australia fires - In pictures

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