Help save the Bare-Nosed Wombat

Usually I give a report about a specific wombat that crossed our paths, that we helped and its journey.

 But I thought this time I might do something a little different. Being year end (feels like a lifetime ago already), I compiled a list of all the wombats we helped. And it surprised me. I know we are busy, the need is incredible, but seeing just how many wombats came into care and needed help is phenomenal.

 This is not possible without having an amazing team to carry the load.

 So here is a quick run-down of what we did in 2024...and donations from everyone around the world is what made it possible:

• we treated 124 wombats in the field (requiring urgent medication but not needing to come into care)
• we completed 4 large population treatment programs for mange, totalling over 300 burrows
• we built 4 soft release enclosures
• we released 10 wombats
• we brought 43 wombats into care

 Of the 43 wombats we brought into care, some were transferred to other groups, and some passed away. Of all the animals we helped, whether in the field or in care, 26 wombats died.

This is a hard thing to deal with as we are all very passionate about these incredible animals. But sometimes they come to us already so compromised the last act of kindness is ending their suffering. Some were healing from mange in the field but were hit by cars, and some died from other causes.

We still had so many wins. Helping this amount of wombats for a small bespoke wildlife group is incredible. I am so proud of our team and how hard everyone works.

Apart from the above, we also completed a couple of orientation sessions to welcome new volunteers into the team. Our biggest achievement was the change we could affect in legislation around urban development and landclearing. In the past, when a developer wanted to clear for urban development, they did not look at wombats as wombats (the barenosed ones) are not covered in the EPBC Act for threatened species. This means all developers only worry about threatened species. Common species are generally ignored. Which means wombats sleeping underground were ignored. Until now.

We wrote a set of guidelines that the office of the Conservator for the ACT Government has customised and adopted. Now, if landclearing is happening where wombats live, there are rules in place how to deal with them. It is a first step, but a massive one. It's a win and now we can start refining the how.

Thank you for your role in all that we achieved. Without contributions and financial assistance, we wouldn't be able to afford the mange medications, other expenses and vet costs. It does add up and sadly support for wildlife from our Government is hard to come by. Which makes us all the more grateful for the support of the public who love these animals just as much as we do.

My wish for you is a blessed 2025 and for our team, a less crazy year than the last one and hopefully less losses and perhaps a step or two closer to our dream of having a large wombat sanctuary dedicated to the safe release of wombats.

Yolandi

Links:

• 2024 in review

While it would be too long to write about every wombat we save, as we treat on average between 15 -30 wombats like this every month, I do want to tell you about Pixie.

I was notified of a wombat with mange in the LDK Retirement Village gardens. I quickly went onto Google Maps to see where exactly this was and saw it's on the edge of town, just opposite the road from the nature reserve that links to the Murrumbidgee River Corridor.

She was quite badly manged and our team caught her to do a quick assessment. It is a heartbreaking decision to have to make and weighs heavily on all our souls. But although Pixie had bad mange, she had no infection or open wounds, and she is a regular in the gardens. This means that we can track and monitor her and we also know where her burrow is (close nearby).

So we decided to treat her with Bravecto (coloured blue), and gave her woundspray (to help heal the skin underneath the plaques) (purple spray) and we let her go.

We have been able to track her almost daily as she goes up to the Retirement Village nice lush lawns for grazing every day.

What makes her so special is the bond some of the retirees have formed with her. From a distance, they see her. Not everyone realised she is sick, but they all care and once they knew she is being treated, they are very protective of her. She is bringing a little bit of joy to these people, just by being there, being something different, something that they feel they can relate to I think.

She is a beautiful gentle soul and our whole volunteer team is quite attached to Pixie. We all want her to get better and although it's not perfectly safe living in such close proximity to humans, it will have to do. With our ever increasing city we are bound to venture deeper into their habitat and there is nothing we can do other than try to save the ones we can. Relocating wombats is fraught with danger and while she does have a burrow to sleep in, we want her to stay there safely.

The photos are from day 1 to day 25. On day one her eyes were crusted over with the thick skin plaques caused by mange but after only 3.5 weeks most of the plaques have fallen off and she can see. She does look a little bare but now that her skin is healing she has started to grow fur again.

She is only one of many. Apart from doing mange treatment programs targeting about 150 burrows at a time, we do these callouts almost daily and help many wombats every single month. None of this would be possible without help from people like you.

Thank you so much for supporting us and giving us the chance to help these beautiful creatures.

kind regards

Yolandi