WHILE the Barossa was locked down during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of Lyndoch animal lovers were working hard to ensure local wildlife was not left behind.

Barossa Wildlife Rescue helps recover and rehabilitate injured animals throughout the area from its property in Lyndoch and is run by volunteers.

As well as taking in injured wildlife, the group also travels around the state delivering food and providing support to other animal lovers in other regions.

A cluster of coronavirus cases in the Barossa – including a number linked to a Lyndoch winery – forced many of the group’s volunteers into isolation for extended periods of time.

This forced the group to stretch its resources, something founder Rose Brooks found difficult as animals continued needing assistance.

“Before the pandemic, we used to get people to donate us food and restaurants would come give us leftovers,” she said.

“But then everything shut down and people were too scared to come to the front door.

“I’d like to put it out there, if people want to keep donating or help out in any way… it is really great and needed.

“People must realise the world doesn’t stop these other things that are happening. We need to keep going because there’s animals out there who need help.”

During the Barossa’s lockdown, Mrs Brooks could only travel a short distance from her home.

To overcome the travel restrictions the group’s supporters would often create a “relay” between them to get injured animals to Mrs Brooks’ care.

“Getting animals in and out of the Barossa Valley was also an issue,” she said.

“We took two shingleback lizard babies from Balaklava all the way to Owen. I then got a friend from Hamley Bridge to pick them up at Owen.

“I then met them this side of the Sturt Highway to pick them up and take them home.”

Now the pandemic restrictions are easing, Barossa Wildlife Rescue is looking to ramp up its animal-saving operations again.

Animals starving and thirsty due to drought conditions is top of Mrs Brooks’ priority list, with the group often travelling to sedan to support local kangaroos and wombats.

She said even though this winter has been wetter than normal so far, it would take a lot more rain over more years to return the dry landscape to normal.

“The drought has really knocked the people and the animals around out there,” she said.

“We have friends who have a wombat sanctuary there, and at any one time he’ll go out the back and have 11 kangaroos in his driveway just waiting to see if there’s any food around.

“It’s not just up there too. It’s just one way we want to help because we can’t support everyone.

“There are people up there on pensions who are using their own money to buy food because they’re surrounded by starving animals.”