Vegetables were airdropped to feed Australian wildlife recently after their food sources were burned by the bushfires.
Officials with the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) loaded helicopters with over 2,200 kilograms of carrots and sweet potatoes to feed brush-tailed rock wallabies, an endangered species, and other animals inside several of the country’s national parks.
Authorities have dubbed the mission Operation Rock Wallaby, according to Fox 8.
Saturday, New South Wales Minister for Energy and Environment Matt Kean tweeted a photo of NPWS employees as they dropped carrots from a helicopter:
In a statement Sunday, Kean said the operation was an important part of helping the species survive the bushfires that have ravaged large parts of the country.
He continued:
Initial fire assessments indicate the habitat of several important Brush-tailed Rock-wallaby populations was burnt in the recent bushfires. 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.
Kean said the operation is the biggest one the NPWS had ever done, adding the food would be accompanied by “intensive feral predator control, as required.”
“At this stage, we expect to continue providing supplementary food to rock-wallaby populations until sufficient natural food resources and water become available again in the landscape, during post-fire recovery.”
Saturday, the MP tweeted a photo of a hungry wallaby as it took part in the air-dropped feast:
Even though it may take decades, experts said they think the wildlife will come back in the future, according to AFP.
“There is some hope, however, as experts believe scorched forests can recover in time, and decimated populations of koalas, kangaroos and other badly affected species may be able to return,” the report concluded.