Reader's Digest Asia Pacific

Best Of Buddies

It was the middle of the night, back in September 2020, when Anna Culliton was woken by a phone call. A traffic accident had killed a female wombat. Could Anna take care of her baby?

- BY Diane Godley

In a heartbeat, 52-year- old Anna was out the door and driving to the Jenolan Caves, 20 kilometres away, to retrieve the tiny animal. When the mother wombat was hit by a vehicle, her baby, which was the size of a pear, was flung from her pouch and sustained gravel rash to its head and torso. The tiny joey was lucky to have survived.

Anna, who original ly lived in Sydney’s inner-city suburb of Surry Hills, decided when she had children 25 years ago that the bush would be a better place to bring up her kids than

the city. So they moved due west to the Kanimbla Valley, on the western side of the Blue Mountains in the central west of New South Wales.

But what motivated this former city slicker to become a wildlife carer was the school run. As she ferried her two children along country roads each morning, she’d often have to move dead animals off the road, pulling joeys out of pouches and calling the wildlife rescue organisati­on to come and collect them – which caused a lot of drama from the backseat. “I’d have screaming children yelling ‘can’t we keep them?!’” says Anna.

But rearing two young children was not the time to open a menagerie in her home. Anna bided her time and four years ago, when her two kids were “fully fledged”, she became a volunteer with WIRES (Wildlife Informatio­n, Rescue and Education Service),

Anna with Candy in her backyard in January this year

Australia’s largest wildlife rescue organisati­on. To date, she has raised 14 orphaned wombat joeys as well as kangaroos, wallaroos, wallabies, possums, echidnas and native birds.

So Candy, as Anna would later call the joey she rescued that late September night “because she was so pink”, was in capable hands. Weighing just 394 grams, less than a tin of tomatoes, Candy was, in human terms, equivalent to a premature baby and needed immediate medical attention.

Like all marsupials, wombats are just two centimetre­s long when they’re born – the size of a jellybean. Immediatel­y after birth, the joey crawls into its mother’s pouch where it stays for around six months until it has grown fur and ears and can waddle on its own.

Candy, a bare-nosed wombat, was about four months old when she came into Anna’s care. In wildlife rescue parlance she was a ‘pinkie’ because she hadn’t yet grown fur. There was no way the tiny joey, which could fit in the palm of Anna’s hand, would survive outside her mother’s pouch without the dedication of volunteer wildlife carers like Anna.

Anna immediatel­y placed Candy in a humidicrib, where she stayed for six weeks and was given round-the-clock care. Every four hours, Anna would retrieve the tiny animal from her humidicrib, tuck her up on her lap and bottle feed her a special formula of

wombat-milk replacer – each bottle taking Candy an hour to finish. “It was a very slow but rewarding process,” says Anna fondly.

Anna was not only feeding Candy six times every 24 hours, she was also looking after three other wombats, two brushtail possums, and four wallaroos – all of which came into her care after road accidents. Plus, she was checking 32 surroundin­g properties that were treating wombats with mange – a skin condition caused by mites which is deadly to wombats if not treated.

Candy’s first two weeks with Anna were agonising because she refused to drink the formula and was losing weight fast. “Some wombat joeys take to the wombat-milk replacer right away, but not Candy,” says Anna. But once Candy was feeding regularly, she started to bulk up.

Orphaned joeys need to be looked after for between 18 months and three years before they are able to return to their natural habitat. Wombats are very affectiona­te creatures and if allowed, they’ll snuggle up to their human carers to get the cuddles they would otherwise have received from their mothers. Although this sounds lovely, the outcome is not in the wombat’s best interest.

A key step in the animal’s rehabilita­tion is finding them a buddy to create

a strong animal-based bond. When the joeys are very small, human carers nurture them to replicate their mother’s love and warmth. “However we must always be aware that they are not pets and avoid humanising them, which is detrimenta­l to a successful release outcome,” says Anna.

Wombat joeys need to be ‘buddied up’ while in care, not only so they are not ‘humanised’ but also so they can learn from each other and develop the necessary survival skills to be successful­ly released back into the wild.

Because much of Australia’s wildlife is nocturnal, there are countless deaths every night due to vehicle collisions. So, you would think finding

Every four hours, Anna fed Candy a bottle of special wombat-milk formula

an orphaned wombat for a buddy would be straightfo­rward. But like humans, wombat dynamics come into play.

Ernie came into Anna’s care a month after Candy. His mother was also hit by a car, but fortunatel­y, the motorist stopped, checked for a pouch, discovered the joey and called WIRES.

Although Ernie was a little older than Candy when he arrived at Anna’s, he was severely underweigh­t, weighing just 370 grams. “Maybe the health of his mother had been compromise­d in some way,” says Anna. It took an agonising four weeks for Ernie’s tummy to cope with the wombat-milk replacer, but eventually it did and he, too, started putting on weight.

After six weeks in humidicrib­s, the two joeys were moved into pouches to replicate their mothers, and placed in a portable cot in a room Anna has converted into an animal nursery. It was time to introduce the pair to each other.

While Anna was feeding one wombat, she would place the other close by. They were also next to each other during ‘play time’, which, like human babies, they had after finishing their bottles. But it certainly wasn’t love at first sight.

“Candy was not impressed with Ernie at all,” says Anna. “It took her around a month to decide he was worth knowing.”

Then the magic happened and they are now inseparabl­e. “They can play quite roughly and enjoy biting one another, which is how wombats communicat­e. They also like to chase each other a lot,” says Anna.

At about six months of age, Candy’s gravel rash sores had all healed, the wombats’ top teeth had begun to appear and their velvety fur started growing. Anna moved the two animals into an outdoor enclosure where they now live full-time. “As a bonded pair they are always close to one another. They provide each other warmth and companions­hip, and together they are learning the skills to survive in the wild.”

They are acclimatis­ing to the outdoor environmen­t and acquiring independen­t wombat skills, such as digging a burrow and ‘unfriendin­g’ their human companion.

Ernie has already decided he doesn’t like Anna touching or approachin­g him, but Candy is still affectiona­te towards her carer.

To protect herself from aggressive wombats, Anna has leather horse-riding chaps for her legs and a metal garbage bin lid which she can use like a shield if a wombat decides to charge. She hasn’t had to use them with Ernie yet, but she has with other wombats. Anna doesn’t find this behaviour discouragi­ng, because when a wombat is aggressive towards humans it means it will be able to fend for itself in the wild.

Candy and Ernie will remain with Anna until spring 2023 and, like the other three wombats she recently released, will be given what’s called a ‘soft release’. This means Anna will leave the gate open to their enclosure and continue to provide food and water so they can always come ‘home’ if they need to.

When the time comes to say goodbye to Candy and Ernie, Anna says she’ll definitely shed a tear or two. “It’s a huge moment, which is accompanie­d by angst and concern. They have to have all the skills, and it’s my call to say they are ready,” says Anna. “So it’s exciting but it’s horrible, too.”

Anna worries about the dangers they will face when they leave her, such as catching mange, being attacked by foxes, and being hit by a car – which happened to one of the wombats she raised.

“Looking after orphaned wildlife is a journey that takes patience and dedication,” says Anna. She has both qualities in spades.

 ?? ??
 ?? ?? Although initially Candy gave Ernie (top) a frosty reception, they became inseparabl­e
Although initially Candy gave Ernie (top) a frosty reception, they became inseparabl­e
 ?? ?? The pair at the entrance of their enclosure, a year after Anna took Candy into care
The pair at the entrance of their enclosure, a year after Anna took Candy into care

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Australia