Miss G is back......

Just when you think you have seen it all......Yesterday morning, I did the normal rounds of the enclosures and for some reason, went down to Tug's enclosure as he was banging (he should have been asleep). In the corner of his enclosure was a shivering, bloodied wombat. Tug was trying desperately to get away. It was darling Miss G. Somebody out there has attacked her so so badly. There is not a part of her body that has not been bitten. Sometimes I dislike wombats for what they do to each other, cannot help it BUT it is the nature of the animal and of course, only the strong survive. I just find it amazing that she jumped INTO an enclosure to get away from whoever was attacking her.

Will she pull through? I do not know. Will have to wait and see but it has broken whatever spirit she had for now. I cannot explain what the hell is going on with the wombats right now. I do not think it was the resident male who did this to her. I think there is a rouge male around the place as all the wombats at the feeding station are so jittery. They bolt like anything if they hear a sound, as if they are scared of who the sound is coming from. Normally when they are within their territories they have a certain amount of confidence. Not of late. The females with joeys have disappeared as well. So I'm thinking that is the reason for Miss G being attacked so badly, or the fact that she is seen as 'weak'.

No sign of Barney again either. After a good dose of rain his burrow is flooded so not sure where he has moved to. I did find 2 new burrows close to the house yesterday but am not sure who is in them as yet.

And just for the record. Looking after numerous wombats and working full time IS easier than raising a toddler! :)

What do?

So, what do toddlers, german shepherd puppies and wombats have in common? They ALL take plants out of pots. After managing to save my plants from the odd wombat that visits on the deck and the dogs, they now have to fend off a toddler. Alas, if they survive this, they are the strongest pot plants I know of:). The dogs got an ear lashing of 'don't do this', and then for me only to later in the afternoon come across one toddler pulling out the plants I had so delicately re potted earlier in the day! This was then of course followed by a tantrum as she was told to leave it. Remind me why we have children? Its certainly not for the peace and quiet, that I can tell you:).

I have no idea of what is going on with the wombats, maybe they know spring is on the way and warmer weather, who knows but their habits have changed drastically over the last week or two. We only see Boney Bum every night, still no Veg and Daphne comes every few nights. I think I have figured out where Barney has gone (or the burrow should I say).  Its strange that so suddenly, their routines have changed and we are talking creatures of habit here. Like I said, maybe they know spring is on the way as it certainly feels like it today. Nights are still very cold though. My first thought is oh no, snakes will be coming out soon. That is one brilliant thing about winter, no snakes to watch out for. In a few weeks, every stick will be a potential threat when walking:).

!!!!!

So Barney has left again. We took him up to an enclosure after his course of antibiotics and he is not yet better but he has escaped so I hope he stays away from trouble for a while. At least he has been fed up for a few nights and regained some strength but somehow I think we are going to see him again, in the same state, if not worse. There are some wombats that just don't cope or who aren't aggressive enough. Sadly you only find them when its injured or dead mostly but we will remain positive and think that he has learnt his lesson again.

Trying to get up to do work in the enclosure area with a new baby and toddler is challenging to say the least. And when the two dogs come with, oh boy, I just about give up. Indy is starting to show signs of intelligence *lol* at almost 9 months. She is stubborn though but is coming along with her training. Bella is just gorgeous, she is 21 months old now and truly an amazing dog. I'm hoping Indy will learn from her. Still no Vegemite at the feed station. Its been more than a week now and I don't have a good feeling about her not coming. She has ALWAYS come every night. We are going for a walk this evening to check burrows and the creek, maybe we will see something.

Update

So, the enclosures are not even getting a day's rest right now with the amount of animals coming in. Not sure what is going on this year but so many attacked/injured adults. Not many baby wombats coming in, which is of course good but with the adults, not sure. The enclosure area is chockers again, full house. The new enclosure going up already has an occupant waiting to come here and more on the waiting list.

Barney - he has had one bad experience out there in the wild. He is showing some very odd behaviour. We did move him from the studio last night up to an enclosure so hopefully he will now start to regain his confidence. He has finished his course of antibiotics and his wounds are looking a lot better. Boney Bum continues to cause havoc at night and patrol the enclosure and house site area. Veg hasn't been for at least 4 nights which is VERY odd as she is always the first at the feeding station. We are going to check her burrow tonight as normally she is a late riser and you can find her lying close to the entrance as the sun goes down and it becomes dark. She is pregnant so not sure if her change of habits are due to this. Still waiting for Daphne to arrive with her wombat joey at some point which would be at foot.

Thank heavens for the night webcam as it means we can get some sleep while everybody does there thing at night:).

Barney is back!!!

Yesterday, driving into the property, around noon I came across a wombat at the causeway, not looking too good and as the number one rule for me is - if its out during the day, there is most likely something wrong. Yes, something was definitely wrong. It has a few severe attack injuries which are fly blown even in the cold weather, limping so not running fast at all and severely underweight. So........you do what you do at Sleepy Burrows, catch it. That didn't take too long or much effort which gives me an indication of the state of the animal.

The wombat has turned out to be Barney who went AWOL around January this year if I recall. He is not in a good way and has obviously been struggling out there a bit. Somebody has also gotten hold of him and done some serious damage. He got his antibiotics and is in the studio. He ate copious amounts of food initially and has then slept for over 24 hours solid now. I have just checked on him and still sound asleep BUT has done his business where he sleeps.

This is very unusual for wombats as they are very clean animals. This indicates to me that he is either too sick to get up or was being attacked and bullied so much that he only came out during the day to feed. Not sure which one but the next few days will tell. For now, he is resting and can sleep safely.

Happy days

Miss G is back, thank goodness. Indy found her in the bush this morning and I heard heaps of screaming. She has been given a bit of a hard time it appears, or mated, not sure yet which one but otherwise she is happy to be back and went straight into her enclosure. I feel so relieved. I know she cannot cope in the wild on her own. As long as she goes on her adventures and comes back, I'm okay with that:).

Still going....

I still miss Johnson. Still feel so bad that I couldn't save him and had to make that decision for him. Its been a shocker of a week wombat wise. 2 dead wombats on the dirt road, both really healthy animals, such a waste for somebody to slam into when driving too fast. We also managed to get the manged wombat so that had to be put down immediately. At least that wombat we have helped as it would have been suffering for a long time. It was in a very bad way.

There has been some good news. There is a strong chance that Daphne is now leaving her wombat joey in the burrow at night when she comes to the feed station. We have put the night webcam at her burrow in the hope we may see her with it. Hopefully we will see Daph bring her joey to the feed station in a few weeks/months - with all the bad news of late, it would be a wonderful thing to see.

Still no sign of Miss G. I do worry about her, cannot help it. Have been to look for her but no sign so I have no idea as to where she has gone. I'm still hoping she will come back to the enclosure area at some point as she has done in the past. Will have to wait and see. Otherwise all wombats behaving (sort of) and we have two new residents coming in shortly, both females thankfully. All the wombats we have in care now are males, except for one female so more of a balance would be good.

I don't get it sometimes.....

I know that a combination of the good and bad make life worthwhile. In other words good times would not be good if you didn't experience bad times. That does not mean you have to accept or like the bad times or events. Daphne has arrived with no baby joey. What does this mean? I would say it is dead. That gorgeous little girl didn't get much of a chance at life did she? Here the wombats are as safe as they can be in the wild with the support if its required. If a little wombat joey cannot survive here for whatever reason, it makes me wonder how bloody hard it is for them in the wild. The success rate must be hideously low. Its sad to see her with no bulge anymore. And her behaviour has changed dramatically as a result. She is no longer the brave mother wombat but more a timid wombat again.

Miss G has also decided to go AWOL. I wish she wouldn't. She is not all there mentally and cannot stand up for herself but she insists on getting out. I'm hoping she will turn up again as she normally does after a few days.

RIP dear Johnson

A very sad day for me. I could not fix Johnson. I had to make the gut wrenching decision to have him put down yesterday. I feel like I have failed him, after raising him to virtual release. The world can be cruel sometimes. I hope his autopsy results will show me that there was nothing more I could have done for him. RIP my little guy, you will be missed.

Somebody made the comment the other day to me that I make it all sound so easy. Oh no no no. If anybody thinks it is 'easy' managing full time work, toddler, 2 x german shepherd puppies and a wildlife sanctuary, how wrong you are *lol*. I love it yes but believe you me, I have my days where its all too much. Or it just seems that there is bad news only. BUT what one has to do in life is make the most of every day. I have learnt to be positive as much as I can, do the best that I can and I've learnt along the way that if you don't finish it on that particular day, it is okay - there is always tomorrow:). Not everybody will thrive on what you do, that too is okay. Yeah yeah, been having too much time to think haven't I *lol*?

Back to everybody for feeding time. And then of course you see things like Daphne with her joey at night, that makes it all worthwhile:).

Bingo, we have managed to turn Johnson around. We have not given up on him and he hasn't given up either. He has a long long way to go but there is an improvement to last week - yay:).

Hmmm, we now have new medication for Johnson and its his last hope. He has until the weekend to respond, otherwise I am going to have to do the kindest thing for him and put him down. He has no more reserves, his body temperature has dropped substantially which means his system is really struggling. If a bacteria or infection can do this to his system, one has to think what would happen out in the wild? Would his immune system stand up to the stress of being a male out in the bush. If the answer is no, it is cruel to release, bottom line. I have to consider whether his system is strong enough, let alone him as a wombat. The saddest part is that he was due to be released but maybe in hindsight, this coming out now prevents him from having a horrible death ultimately in the wild. A catch 22 situation and a gut wrenching one to make for him but its for him, that is what I have to keep telling myself, not about how I feel. One of the hardest parts of doing this volunteer work. So the next few days until the weekend will be the course for him. I hope so much that he responds to this medication.

Hold thumbs for Johnson, we go to the vet again tonight. Just when you think you really are getting ahead with knowing how these animals function, something like this blows you sideways. Either way, I'll find out what is going on with him and hopefully pull him through. Its ironic that wombats who have been brought here on their death bed we have saved, yet one who has been with us since 500g and raised by us - almost ready for release has had a turn in health to put him close to this point and as humans we cannot stop the decline.

Veg is behaving like a female on PMS right now. Went out last night and she is truly eating for 2, if not 3!!! She followed me to the wombat studio and waited until I appeared with more food, bit me and then continued to eat. Ungrateful? No, just how wombats operate. If it was an aggressive bite, I would have known all about it. Tug had another encounter with Boney Bum last night but thankfully I was outside so we stopped it straight away. Its amazing the heights you can clear when you do wombats *lol*. Who ever thought you could clear 1.4m no problem if you have to:).

Now I am truly starting to think we might lose Johnson. I am at my wits end of what else to try with him. We have put him out into an enclosure this morning to give him some time out and in one that we can easily catch him but he just weighs nothing now. He is eating, that is the frustrating part but his body is almost rejecting the food. I've left a call with our dear vet yet again and waiting for him to call back. I just truly hate seeing these animals sick, they get under my skin so so badly.

So maybe young wombat males aren't as clever as they think they are:). Moses, a new addition (got lost in the wilderness and found the promise land, Sleepy Burrows:)) who was severely attacked last year decided that he was old and wise enough to take on another male wombat. This is where the enclosure area is the BEST teaching tool for wombats in rehabilitation.

Moses decided to pick on Harry. He carried on and on and eventually Harry got out didn't he? Well, Moses was found cowering in his enclosure. He wasn't so brave after all once Harry was out. At least it will teach him a valuable lesson for the real bush when he gets released. A few bits of fur missing but nothing serious. Along with the recent rain and wind, it has kept us busy as always with wombats out and about because of flooded burrows. However, Daph and her little one appear dry each night at the feed station, as do Boney Bum and Veg. Veg is now pregnant, we are sure of it. She is eating for two and has gotten a lot bigger all of a sudden. I can sympathise with her *lol*.

Johnson, hmmmm, he is a tough one. He is still in the sick bay. Eating a bit but his weight is doing nothing. The infection has cleared, now we have to fix his gut flora and get him to relax a bit as he cannot go back into an enclosure until his treatment is complete, otherwise we cannot get them down the burrows each night, unless we dig them out. Its a catch 22 as while they are getting slightly better, their instinct tells them they want out and back in the burrow. If only we could explain why we cannot do that right now, would make life easier for everybody as I hate seeing them unsettled.