Homeless wombat
Flood emergency funding and wombat rescues
Wildlife Heroes Project Manager, Stacey Mole – update on Wildlife Heroes NSW 2022 Flood Emergency Funding. Seven volunteer wildlife rehabilitation groups assisted to the sum of $56,000.
Wildlife rehabilitation groups that were flood affected and supported through this grant are now fulfilling their last milestone. Part of this process is to share a story in relation to the grant. It is very satisfying to see how the efforts of the Wildlife Heroes team, along with the hard work of wildlife volunteers, are able to help wildlife in need. We would like to share one of the stories…
LAOKO has received many reports of wombats needing help due to flooded burrows. Wombats have been attacked by other wombats, and have ended up under houses and in sheds, when heavy rain and local flooding have meant wombats have nowhere to sleep and there is competition for dry burrows.
The Wildlife Heroes Emergency Flooding Grant has been wonderful and has helped with costs associated with wombat rescues, soft release enclosures, plastic dog kennels for temporary burrows, cameras to monitor wombats, a storage container for equipment, and reimbursement for some travel costs associated with these rescues.
One classic example is when we received a call from Jindabyne about a wombat under a property owner’s veranda. One of our volunteers went to investigate and found this soggy wombat:
This wombat was trying to sleep under a veranda so we setup a plastic dog kennel, under the veranda (similar to the photo below) to give the wombat a better, more comfortable place while burrows dried out.
Our volunteer would drive out and check the wombat each day to make sure it wasn’t getting sick. After a few days the wombat had moved on and wombat tracks could be seen at nearby burrows.
The kennel is then taken back, cleaned, and stored, ready for the next wombat in need.
This photo is an example of one of the plastic dog kennels used to house wombats displaced by flooded burrows. These dog kennels were also used for orphan wombats who lost their mothers during the floods.
Author: Robyn George
Wildlife Group: Snowy Mountains Wildlife Rescue LAOKO Inc
More stories can be found at: https://wildlifeheroes.org.au/stories/
The NSW Wildlife Heroes Project is managed by the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife with funding from the New South Wales Government through its Environmental Trust.