Operation Rock Wallaby was done to feed the hungry animals that were escaping the massive bushfires so they can survive.
The New South Wales government is currently working to make sure that animals in the brush-tailed rock-wallabies affected by the Australian Bushfires are fed as part of post-fire wildlife recovery efforts.
Authorities dropped over 2,000 pounds of sweet potatoes and carrots in 1 week.
Recent reports suggest that Australia dropped 4,600 pounds of food, water from helicopters to feed hungry wallabies.
Matt Kean, minister of energy and environment, talked about the food dropping.
Minister Kean said, “The provision of supplementary food is one of the key strategies we are deploying to promote the survival and recovery of endangered species like the brush-tailed rock-wallaby.”
He added, “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.”
He continued, “This is the most widespread food drop we have ever done for brush-tailed rock-wallabies.”
Brush-tailed rock-wallabies are marsupials like kangaroos that live on rocky escarpments, granite outcrops, and cliffs. They are considered endangered in NSW.
Extremely large areas in Australia have been wiped out by the massive bushfires, which started in September last year.
Since the fires started, nearly half a billion animals have been killed.
According to ecologists from the University of Sydney, animals such as birds, reptiles, and mammals, except bats, have been killed by the fires.
The 1 billion animal count doesn’t include insects and frogs.
If added all, the numbers are over 1 billion.
The numbers were released by Christopher Dickman, an ecologist from the University of Sydney.
The WWF (World Wildlife Fund) Australia estimates that as many as 1.25 billion animals have been killed directly or indirectly by the bushfires, which have been burning Australia since September of last year.