From
to
on this week's Good Start.
Hey guys, and welcome to Good Start.
I'm Sally Turner.
Today's episode will be a little
different, as we focus on one of the
worst disasters in the history of
my home country, Australia,
and spotlight the efforts people are
taking to help others.
The devastating fires in Australia
are endangering the wildlife and
destroying their habitats.
The country has come together
working to rescue these poor
animals, and one dog is joining
them.
Koala. Find.
Taylor and I have been finding
koalas together for three years now,
all up and down the east coast of
Australia.
She's trained to seek out their fur
and their scats.
Tate specializes in training
detector dogs and
We have a taxidermy koala with fresh
koala fur up a tree.
I'm gonna show you what Taylor does
when she responds to the live animal
or the fur up a tree.
Taylor.
Koala. Find.
In ideal conditions
where the air is still, the smell of
the animal actually drops down from
the tree and Taylor can smell them.
She'll sit right below that, and
point up to them and show us where
they are.
Taylor is part of
from fire zones.
Over her lifetime, she's found over
50 koalas.
Good girl.
Taylor is also trained to find
quolls, foxes, cats, and
rats, and rabbits.
She knows based on some verbal cues
that I give her, as well as what
equipment I bring and who I'm
working with, what we're searching
for.
Detector dogs
like Taylor are an intricate part
of the rescue mission as they can
detect animals who are hurt or
hiding in fear.
Taylor's dog team is currently
working hard to rescue koalas
and more.
They aren't the only ones coming up
with surprising ways to help the
Australian wildlife.
The National Parks and Wildlife
Service of New South Wales has
taken to the skies to feed the
endangered species during this
difficult time.
Operation Rock Wallaby
have been dropped so far,
The operation is mostly focused on
whose
as a result of the fires.
Operation Rock Wallaby is the most
widespread food drop the government
has done.
And for our third and final story,
we've kept a close eye on the
wildlife affected by the fires,
but must also focus on the
Australian people who are working
hard.
One community in Melbourne came
together to take care of Australia's
heroic first responders.
who volunteered to fight the fire.
We have a great relationship with
our metropolitan fire
brigade. We said, how can we assist?
Because, you know,
what we're seeing on the news was
just very sad and we thought, you
know, there's something that we can
do to help.
So they took to social media to
collect food and other necessities
to deliver to the Melbourne
Metropolitan Fire Brigade.
And within 48 hours, we
had people from all different
nationalities and all different
religions coming and dropping off
supplies at our center
here. We had almost five truckloads
worth of necessities that were
required there in the bushfire
areas.
And we had almost 40 to
45 volunteers.
I've just been on the phone to
the captain down there.
and he near broke into tears when I told him what we're
bringing in for them today so, I
just want to extend the thanks out
to you. Fantastic.
They were very, very appreciative.
Just to give them a little bit of
support. I mean, it's like I said,
it's the least that we can do.
They're doing an amazing job.
And while
they maintain that
To show our fellow Australian
firefighters and our fellow
Australian people who have been
displaced from their homes that the
rest of the Australian community
is thinking of you.
It's our role as a human being to
come to another person's aid.
It really is our duty as humans
to help each other when we need it.
As an Australian living overseas, it
has truly been one of the hardest
things to watch from a distance.
But the heartwarming stories coming
out of my country give me hope
and I've never been prouder to be an
Australian. So if you can, dig
deep and please donate.
The fires are not over and it will
take generations before Australia
recovers.
But we will recover.
Thanks for watching and we'll see
you back here next week for another
Good Start.