'They're all dying aren't they Dad?': Heartbreaking photos highlights plight of wildlife in Australia

"If this photo doesn't speak a thousand words I don't know what else will." Photo / Facebook

A seven-year-old boy's comment reduced his dad, Australian wildlife expert Tim Faulkner, to tears, as the family contemplated the devastation caused by the bushfires.

Seven-year-old Matthew held the bloated dead body of a brush-tailed rock wallaby during a family trip in the Hunter region in New South Wales and asked his dad: "They're all dying aren't they Dad?"

His dad, an expert in wildlife and conservation, told Yahoo Australia that these scenes are becoming "the new normal".

Tim Faulkner and his sons, Matthew and William, witnessed the devastation the fires caused in the Hunter Valley region when they visited earlier this week.

In a Facebook post, Faulkner wrote the family were out to provide food drops and check the trail cameras for the endangered Brush-tailed rock-wallaby.

"I ended up feeling like I was showing my little boy his future," he wrote.

"He cradled the dead wallaby, found near a muddy puddle of water. The smoke plumes lifting from the wildfire in the backdrop and he said, 'They're all dying aren't they Dad?' I told him it was his job to save the world, it was the best I could do. He accepted.

"If this photo doesn't speak a thousand words I don't know what else will," the wildlife expert wrote.

The endangered Brush-tailed rock-wallaby has had most of its habitat burnt or at imminent risk of burning. The animals have been left starving, dehydrated and dying.

Everything is dying… I went out to provide food drops and check our cameras for the endangered Brush-tailed...

Posted by Tim Faulkner on Monday, 6 January 2020

"The wallaby looked like it just died, his mum and I were both crying. It was very moving in that regard," Faulkner said.

"Matty is really empathetic and felt like he needed to cradle and look after it."

"This is the new normal, we're gonna need little heroes in the future to step it up," he added.

"More needs to be done. What's been lost cannot be brought back. It's critically important we future-proof our environment."

He also said that this "doesn't end when the bushfires end".

Faulkner is currently raising money to help Australian species threatened by the bushfires via Aussie Ark.