Rocklin Middle School Students Sew Pouches For Animals Rescued From Australian Wildfires

ROCKLIN (CBS13) — The wildfires have ravaged natural habitat for wildlife indigenous to Australia and students in Rocklin are doing what they can to help.

Erin Brady is the Home Economics teacher at Spring View Middle School in Rocklin. On Monday, about 50 kids gathered in her classroom to sew pouches for kangaroos, wallabies, and bats.

Brady is part of an online crafting group that is answering a call to help animals rescued from the Australian wildfires.

READ ALSO: Here's How To Help Victims Of Australia's Apocalyptic Wildfires

"To me, the best thing we can do is teach them to be good humans, and this is part of that: reaching out and helping others," said Brady.

Students also crocheted nests.

Christian Colla said, "You want a variety for the different species of birds. So there is a bigger one, smaller one and this little one that somebody else made."

This comes as UC Davis veterinarian Jamie Peyton preps for a trip down under. She is teaming up with other vets to help animals burned in the wildfires, taking technology she pioneered and using it during the Camp Fire. It uses skin from farmed tilapia to treat wounds.

READ: Pets Burned In Camp Fire Healing With Fish Skin Bandages

"So when you lose an area of skin, it's very sensitive, it's painful, it's exposed to bacteria and the rest of the environment. You lose fluids," she said.

Collagen in the fish skin is a healing protein that reduces the need for frequent and often painful bandage changes. Peyton used it on cats and dogs here and hopes it will help heal animals burned there.

She will soon leave, spending two weeks with a crew of other vets.