The fires raging across Australia have had devastating ecological effects on the country and surrounding air including the estimated death of over half a billion animals. Among the affected are Australia’s signature wallabies. In an effort to help the remaining populations recover, the government dropped over 2,200 kilograms of carrots and sweet potatoes to feed the wallaby colonies this week.
Dropped from airplanes, the initiative is part of Operation Rock Wallaby, which is specifically feeding brush-tailed rock wallabies which generally survive fires, but are left stranded after the fire destroys natural vegetation in their habitat.
New South Wales Minister for Energy and the Environment Matt Kean posted photos of the food distribution process and even a few wallabies chowing down on their newly delivered snacks.
We at the Optimist Daily are fully aware that dropping food doesn’t represent a complete solution to saving animals in the wake of these deadly fires. But seeing that the Australian bushfires are the biggest environmental story of this new decade, we feel obliged to show you the brave efforts humans are making to protect wildlife.
