How did we know?

Some have asked 'how did we know Daphne's joey was dead'. Well, as you can see by this photograph, the feet are not pink but grey. Also, the way the leg and front paw are lying - limp. A wombat would keep her joey in her pouch, secure and not allow it to hang out as is happening in the photo.

A wombat cannot remove a dead joey from its pouch. They have to wait until it falls out - horrible thought, carrying your dead baby around.  I would say that sadly this joey died of pneumonia - I'm guessing here. The reason is because Daphne, first time mother was going into a very wet burrow and clearly her joey got wet and stayed wet. Maybe it got bitten by a snake - we will never know. Very sad as it was a strong healthy baby girl from what we could see. But so much to learn from the feeding station at all hours of the morning, good or bad. It all helps us understand wombats better.