Now on Facebook username SleepyBurrows

Right, time to really get the message about wombats out there. We are finally on Facebook. Its taken too long we know but the care of the animals always comes first:).You can follow us on Facebook

I thought poodles were meant to be clever???

As the post title suggests - now I am not sure *lol*. Stinking hot weather and driving along, 2 small dogs running along the dirt road - clearly lost. I stop to get them. There are cattle grids along the road to slow people down. The jack russell gets to the cattle grid, stops, thinks about it and then goes to the left and continues along the side of the road - so clever. By this stage another guy had stopped to help me. We got the jack russell all safe.

Now for the poodle. Poodle comes up to cattle grid, stops for a milli second, then tries to run straight over - of course legs going everywhere in the grid. Clever move - nope!

Between the 2 of us we managed to catch both dogs and return them safely to owner as they had their telephone number on their collars (so smart owners):). Never a dull moment, truly.

Have called new wombat visiting 'Scarface' for obvious reasons. Heaps of movement each night so clearly new to the territory.

Activity increasing with the dry weather

We have noticed an increase in the wombat activity around the food station due to the dry weather. This is Daph (eating) and the new wombat approaching at about 2am the other morning. There was a lot of screaming and chasing. That tells us it is a new wombat into the territory. Things seem to be settling down a bit. The new wombat is still visiting most nights and the screaming and chasing has decreased, for now anyhow.

RIP dear Mr Bean

5 days ago he was running and digging. 3 days ago he was rushed to the vet with suspected pneumonia. Last night we found him dead. I knew with the large temperature variations somebody would come down with pneumonia. So close to being free. You will be missed Mr Bean, RIP.

Toxo and wombats - out of interest really

We have been doing a lot of work with wombats and toxoplasmosis over the years. More in the line of what it does to them and how come they behave in certain ways, ie behaviour, symptoms. Its a long story, too long for here as the papers are pages and pages long:). But in a nutshell, most animals do not survive toxo. It is spread by cats (feral cats in particular) and is basically everywhere.

The trend we are seeing over the years is that wombats do get very sick from it, don't get us wrong BUT they appear to have a higher survival rate than other native animals. However, they are left with ailments which would I would say ultimately lead to their death in the wild. Or it might explain why some very 'tame' wombats come into care who display some wild tendencies but yet remain calmer than you would expect.  So much more work to be done here. One of the ailments of a wombat who survives toxo is that they can be blind and brain damaged.

Another sign is a wombat's eyes. For example this little wombat. If you look at her eyes, they do not focus straight. Also her eyes are 'bulging' out, another classic sign they have been exposed to toxo. Her mother might have died of toxo, resulting in her being found and saved by Risha initially.