The Secret Life of Wombats by James Woodford

Author:James Woodford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: nature
ISBN: 9781921834905
Publisher: The Text Publishing Company
Published: 2012-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

Vombatus ursinus, the common wombat. This wombat’s nose resembles the sole of a foot, yet all three species have a split lip, which enables them to pluck even the shortest blade of grass.

To learn about common wombats there is no better place to start than Gaylene and Rob Parker’s home at Wingello in the southern highlands of New South Wales. Their property is an hour-and-a-half drive south-west of Sydney, on bushland a short drive from the Hume Highway. Thirty common wombats live there, including seventeen that need bottle-feeding twice a day with a special formula with the brand name ‘Wombaroo’. This is made up of whole-milk solids, milk fat, vegetable oils, vitamins and minerals. The Parkers have so many wombats to feed that they purchase Wombaroo in 12.5-kilogram bags. On average, before graduating from what Gaylene calls the ‘wombat finishing school’, usually at the age of two years, the average orphaned wombat consumes between $100 and $200 worth of formula.

The Parkers are members of a native animal care group known as the Wildlife Information and Rescue Service. When someone finds an injured animal it is to WIRES that they turn. WIRES provides training for those who wish to become wombat carers, but before the responsibility for a joey can be taken on a licence must be obtained from the state’s wildlife agency. Wombat young often survive inside the pouch for days after whatever accident claimed their mothers. Gaylene once found a baby wombat inside its mother on a farm—according to the landholder the adult had been dead for nine days. On other occasions the baby wombat will climb out of its dead mother and stay in close proximity until it dies of starvation, is eaten by a predator or rescued by a passer-by. The nearby expressway exacts a frightening toll on marsupials, which are totally unevolved to cope with cars hurtling through the night at speeds well in excess of 110 kilometres per hour. In this area, surrounded by agricultural land, wombats also run foul of farmers, who often regard native animals as an extreme pest. And as Sydney sprawls outwards, greater pressure is applied on landholders to subdivide. Suburbanisation brings more dogs and people, forcing wombats to burrow beneath houses or to find new habitats. This story is being repeated almost everywhere in Australia where wombats survive.

When a live wombat is discovered inside a dead mother a strict protocol is followed that can make the difference between life and death to the young. Tugging it out through a pouch can break its bones, and hauling it off the teat can damage its delicate jaw. The pouch of the mother needs to be cut open and the joey can be removed only after the suction between the mouth and the nipple has been gently broken. Immediately after rescue a joey should never be held close to a human chest: the smell of a person and the sound of a human heartbeat will terrify it. Instead, the Parkers rub a cotton

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