Rangers from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) have saved the entire colony of Brush-tailed Rock-wallabies in Kangaroo Valley following the 2019 to 2020 bushfires which devastated the region.
Minister for the Environment, Matt Kean said the NPWS rangers had trekked into the region every week to provide food for the hungry wallabies and ensure their survival.
“The life-saving food included carrots and sweet potatoes, as part of the Saving our Species (SoS) program to help this significant colony of a native species,” Mr Kean said.
“After the ferocious fires, it was a welcome relief to hear monitoring cameras and the GPS collars confirmed all the wallabies survived the blaze after trapping several wallabies to assess their health and remove GPS tracking collars,” he said.
“It was great to hear the wallabies were in good health, with one wallaby identified as a joey that was not previously known.”
Mr Kean said the level of intervention provided was vital to help maintain colonies and allow them to recover.
“At this stage feeding is expected to continue until natural food resources and water become available in the landscape during post fire recovery,” he said.
He said that in the immediate aftermath of the bushfires thousands of kilograms of carrots and sweet potatoes were delivered to wallabies in the Capertee and Wolgan region, Yengo National Park, Kangaroo Valley, Jenolan and Oxley Wild Rivers National Park.
