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Hairy Times For The Dozers of The Bush

By Leonie Gale, Chief Executive Officer, Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife

Wombats are mammals, are marsupials and native only to Australia. Wombats look somewhat like a little bear. They are nocturnal grazers and eat mainly grasses and roots.

Young adult wombat (Photo: Tim Williams)

And there are two basic kinds of wombats, the Common Wombat, and the Hairy-nosed Wombat. So imagine a warren full of giant rabbits in your back yard and that pretty much describes what it’s like to have Southern Hairy-nosed Wombats in residence. Unlike the Common Wombats that have a single-entrance burrow, the Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat creates a warren of anywhere from 1 to 100 burrows. This plethora of entry points encourages visits from foxes (a pest introduced to Australia from Europe) that carry the sarcoptic mange mite Sarcoptes scabiei var. wombati that jump ship onto wombat hosts.

Because they are more social, females and young are the first to succumb to the effects of mange. The mange mite burrows under the skin, causing irritation, inflammation and hair loss that results ultimately in the formation of pustules, infection and death. Mangy wombats lose body condition, forcing them out of their burrows to forage during the day, sick and sore-ridden. It is during these last days of life that the mange problem is evident to landowners particularly when the wombat chooses to expire on their doorstep.

Dogs affected with mange go to a veterinary surgeon for treatment but it can be hard to take a 30kg wild wombat to someone used to dealing with domestic pets and the occasional horse or two! That’s where the Wombat Awareness Organisation (WAO) is stepping in.

With substantial support funding from the Foundation of National Parks and Wildlife, WAO will be catching and treating mange-affected wombats in the wild in the Murraylands area of South Australia.

Dr Taggart (Principal Scientist, Conservation Ark, RZSSA) tunes in a radio collared southern hairy-nosed wombat to a radio receiver prior to release. (Photo: Ron Dibben)

David Taggart, a scientist employed by Australia’s principal research institute - the CSIRO, has been studying Southern Hairy-nosed Wombats in the Murraylands of South Australia for the past 16 years. His recent studies at Adelaide Zoo on captive wombats with mange show a single shot of the broad-spectrum anti-parasite medication, Ivomectin, is effective at knocking out the mites.

However, in the wild where frequent reinfestation of mites can occur, this treatment may not be effective. Wombats have also been clocked at over 40 kph (about 25 mph) which means it takes an element of surprise and planning to successfully tussle with a wombat to administer an injection.

Therefore WAO is also employing a mite management method where the wombats treat themselves. Treatment devices are constructed at warren entry points that deliver a slurp of medication every time a wombat brushes past. One drawback of this method is that the same animal may receive treatment unnecessarily over and over again. But Brigitte Stevens of WAO says, “If it saves wombats and stops the suffering, it’s worth it.”

WAO provides the data on the numbers of wombats caught and treated to the Australian Government’s Department of Environment and Heritage which is now formulating a Wombat Conservation Policy.

Young adult wombat (Photo: Tim Williams)

In 2006, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) found that the Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat is not under threat in South Australia. However David Taggart’s research is pointing to a decline in abundance. “People are surprised when suddenly they disappear,” says David. “The fact is that, with wombats living so long, you can have a few male wombats hanging around on their own for about 10 years. When they die, there are no females to keep the population going, so no one realises it hasn’t been viable for a decade. By the time anyone finds out, it is too late.”

The Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife www.fnpw.org.au is currently funding a wide range of wildlife conservation projects (e.g. in support of koalas, wallabies, little penguins etc), mainly in the State of New South Wales, but increasingly in other areas of Australia wherever there is a pressing need for financial support.

The Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife is a Community Service project supported by Rotary Club eClub One and one of its members as just one contribution to Rotary’s Preserve Planet Earth imperative.