Its raining sweet potatoes and carrots in Australias bushfire-ravaged state of New South Wales.

In a bid to save the endangered brush-tailed rock-wallaby, the NSW state government arranged a drop of thousands of pounds of vegetables to fire-affected areas last week. The drop was part of a major post-fire wildlife recovery effort being carried out statewide.

State Environment Minister Matt Kean said in a statement that the provision of food for the wallabies was one of the key strategies employed to promote the survival and recovery of species affected by the blazes.

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, Kean said.

The wallabies were already under stress from the ongoing drought, making survival challenging for the wallabies without assistance.