Mange drug hope for wombats

ENCOURAGING scientific results have emerged in the quest to protect wombats from sarcoptic mange.

The University of Tasmania has enlisted three PhD students and two honours students to conduct field research and drug trials with the hope of discovering how and where the unpleasant skin and hair disease spreads.

Senior UTAS wildlife and ecology lecturer Scott Carver said tests involving the insecticide Bravecto on wombats at Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary showed it could cure mange and was safe to administer every one to three months.

“[It] can make a real difference for our ability to manage this disease for individual wombats,” he said.

“We’re just about to launch into field trials to demonstrate that we can use it effectively in the field.”

Dr Carver said recorded data on mange and other similar diseases spanned back to convicts and early explorers’ dogs arriving in Tasmania with scabies and mites.

He said research was continuing into why wombats were more prone to mange in some areas of Tasmania, including Narawntapu National Park in the state’s north, which had an outbreak in 2006. The lecturer said researchers were also unearthing clues into how the mange mites are spread.

“We think that it’s transmitted between wombats down in burrows,” he said.

Dr Carver said the relatively solitary animals moved into new burrows every four to seven days, and early research indicated the environmental conditions and grouping of animals underground assisted in spreading the disease.

Despite concerns surrounding the disease’s impact on the population, data from the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment showed a “significant increase” in wombat numbers from 1985 to 2019.

Populations suffered in the west Tamar from 2009 to 2019, but the broader population has stabilised within the same period.

Field trials of Bravecto and other studies are expected to begin later this year.

The state government has contributed $10,000 annually for the three-year research period, while $100,000 was contributed into monitoring and treating mange in 2017.

Primary Industries and Water Minister Guy Barnett said UTAS had made “very positive progress” on the issue.