“The provision of supplementary food is one of the key strategies we are employing to promote the survival and recovery of endangered species such as the rock brushtail ualabi,” Matt Kean, Secretary of Environment of the State of New South Wales, on Monday (13.01.2020) in a statement.
In the past week, the New South Wales government has deployed helicopters to launch more than two tons of carrots and sweet potatoes at different points where Ualabi, a marsupial endemic to southeastern Australia, lives.
“Initial fire assessments indicate that the habitat of several major populations of Ualabi was devastated by recent wildfires. The Ualabi usually survive the fires, but they are left abandoned and with little natural food as the fire destroys the vegetation in its rocky habitat,” Kean explained.
In addition, the New South Wales Government is installing cameras to observe the animals’ consumption of food.
Since they began last September, fires in Australia have ravaged an area of more than 8 million hectares, equivalent to Ireland’s, left 26 dead and an estimated one billion wild animals have died as consequence of them.
Firefighters control a mega-fire in Australia
Australian firefighters, exhausted, said on Monday that they controlled a mega-fire outside Sydney, thanks to a wetter climate that promises much-needed respite for the fire-ravaged countryside.
New South Wales firefighters claim to have the large Gospers Mountain fire under control on the north-west sydney suburbs after a nearly three-month struggle.
On a visit to the area on Monday, the head of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Shane Fitzsimmons, said that there is still “a small area on fire to be completed,” but that the “containment forecast looks promising.”
The Bureau of Meteorology predicts that some areas could receive up to 50 millimetres of rain in the coming week, a relief after a prolonged drought.
If this forecast is met, for the New South Wales Rural Fire Service will then become “all our Christmas, birthday, engagement, anniversary, wedding and graduation gifts, all in one. Let’s cross our fingers.” Still, dozens of fires are still out of control.
