The bushfires across Australia have wiped out a shit load of our bush but what is worse than the trees is the wildlife that has been either killed or wiped off the face of the earth in many areas.
Any animals that did survive the bushfires had either run away from it, hid while it passed or doubled back on the fire as it burnt. As you can imagine any animal going back into the burnt fire ground there would be slim pickings in regards to food and what is worse for a lot of animals they rely on the cover of the bush to hide from feral animals, like foxes, cats and dogs.
Spending a few days in the burnt landscape I only saw one wallaby that was jumping through the grounds for what I could only imagine was in a hunt for food.
Driving down one of the roads we came across a feral dog that was walking along the road, the dog looked like it hadn’t eaten in weeks given the exposure of the hips and ribs, not to mention it was keen to travel the roads and come up to cars looking for food.
While the dog was in distress what crossed my mind was the image of the wallaby and all the other vulnerable animals coming back into these areas where these predators would be waiting.
What can you do to help to protect our vulnerable wildlife while it tries to recover?
I guess the first thing I would say it so keep any of your pets inside so they do not venture out into these areas for an easy feed.
The other idea I would think is that if you do see these feral animals in vulnerable areas that you contact the national parks wildlife service to let them know so they can deal with, or if you are licenced to do so, take some time over the coming month to go to these area and concentrate on ferals that are taking advantage of our vulnerable wildlife.