Australian floods: How has wildlife been affected?

An Australian Galah, also known as the pink and grey cockatoo, is being looked after at the Byron Bay Mobile Wildlife Hospital after being found injured on the ground after heavy floods

Australia has been hit with intense flash floods - the emergency has meant 18,000 people across New South Wales have been evacuated from their homes.

But it's not just the people who've been impacted by the torrential rain, the wildlife has too.

Spiders have been scuttling into garages and crawling up walls to escape the rising flood waters. Cows, wallabies and dogs have also been rescued.

Read on to find out how animals have been moved to safety.

Kangaroos

According to the Australian Conservation Foundation: "Whether it's wind and rain blowing them out of trees or flood and water damaging forcing them to flee their homes, animals feel the devastation of natural disasters in similar ways to their human friends."

Emergency forces and wildlife charities have been working across eastern Australia to look after animals rescued from the floods.

Wildlife rescue service Wires shared an image of a kangaroo that got stuck in a waterway after being washed into it during the heavy rain.

They later said "the animal was checked for injuries and luckily found to have survived" with no injuries.

"We are pleased to report that it was safely released nearby later that day," they added.

Birds and echidnas

An Australian fig bird is attended to in the Byron Bay Mobile Wildlife Hospital

Dr Bree Talbot, head vet, attends to an echidna that was found injured beside a road escaping to higher ground

Situated at Australia's eastern-most point, the vet team at Byron Bay Mobile Wildlife Hospital are seeing increasing caseloads of native wildlife with injuries from the floods.

Fig birds and cockatoos are receiving treatment and ground-dwelling animals such as echidnas and wombats have also been rescued after being trapped underground or being hit by cars when moving to higher ground.

Wallabies

In Sydney a wallaby and a number of birds belonging to Paul Zammit were rescued by his best friend when his house flooded.

"All of the animals survived, but they are soaked," Mr Zammit explained.

Dogs

Around 20 dogs were rescued by boat from a Sydney suburb

On Monday emergency workers in boats rescued 20 dogs from a kennel threatened by rising water in a Sydney suburb.

Their owners had left them at the kennel when they were told to evacuate but the flooding had spread, the kennel owner told Reuters news agency.

New South Wales Police tweeted images of dogs being rescued

New South Wales police also evacuated eight greyhounds and a fox terrier on Sunday evening.

They praised everyone involved for getting the animals and their owners to safety.

Cows

Cows trapped in flooded fields in Singleton, Australia

Livestock in farms or fields have been trapped after rivers burst their banks and fields turned to mud.

"There were cows that were up to their head in the water," farmer Gavin Saul told the Guardian newspaper.

Eventually a boat arrived with help and Mr Saul managed to free 11 cows and two calves.