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No.54 AUG- SEPT.2015 The opinions and views expressed in this Bulletin are not necessarily those of WPSA

NOTICES

MEMBERSHIP 2015-16 FALLS DUE ON JUNE 30TH:membership@wombatprotection.org.au

WOMSAT (Wombat Survey and Analysis Tools ) is now online to record sightings of wombats and burrows on their site. http://womsat.org.au/womsat/register.aspx

AGM 2015 held on 26th July in Queanbeyan

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NEW & RETURNING MEMBERS

Welcome and thank you to all these supporters:

Robyn Campbell (NSW); Jan Chambers (Vic); June Edwards (SA); Magrit Falls (NSW);Sue Forrester (VIC); Patricia Gration (Vic) Louise Hicks and Chris Jackson (NSW); Marie McDonald Tas); Kevin Maroney (USA); Tonie Mitchell (NSW); Lyn Obern (NSW); Sharon Sims; Danie Ondinea (NSW); Alan and Jocelyn Smith (NSW); Suzy Watson; John and Una Merrick (Vic); Lyn Scrymgeour (NSW);

Dr John McIlroy with apologies for missing you out last bulletin (NZ)

DONATIONS to WPSA!

WPSA DONOR OF THE YEAR 2015

Nicola Dempsey

Such a passionate wombat person!

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THE GENEROSITY OF WPSA DONORS IS ALWAYS MUCH APPRECIATED: Also

thankyou

Alan and Jocelyn Smith (NSW)

Thank you to Goodwill Wines for creating a fun way to support my charity. Thanks to the Wombat

Protection Society for your tireless work in preserving my favourite Australian animal. Well done!

Davina. X

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Mange Management Workshop

A Mange Management Workshop, combining the expertise of WPSA and Mange Management Inc. (Victoria) and a range of other attendees with vast experience of dealing with mange is being held 25th-26th July in Queanbeyan, NSW.

We will hear presentations from: Mange Management Inc.; wildlife vet Dr. Howard Ralph; UTAS Phd researchers; NPWS (NSW); NPWS; Muru Mittigar (Aboriginal group); UWS and WIRES/NSW and The Wombat Foundation. A report will be published in the next bulletin.

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WPSA Wildlife Licence Application Response from NPWS

Background: WPSA no authority under NPWS and is not covered by insurance to rescue or care under WPSA banner. The letter below is a disappointing reply!

Thank you for your e-mail of 4 June 2015 requesting the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) reconsider its previous refusal to grant the Wombat Protection Society of Australia (WPS) a licence to rehabilitate sick and injured wombats in NSW. I apologise for the delay in responding to your email and can I also take this opportunity to apologise that you didn’t receive a reply to your previous correspondence from November 2014. I understand in 2013 the WPS applied to NPWS for a licence. The application and subsequent appeal was unsuccessful on the basis that WPS did not meet the requirements for a licence outlined in the NPWS Policy for the Rehabilitation of Fauna. In our response to you, NPWS gave an undertaking to assess the issues raised by WPS at the time of the next Policy review. You may be aware that in 2014 the NSW Government undertook an independent review of biodiversity legislation in NSW including fauna rehabilitation licences. A recommendation of the review was for NPWS to facilitate local wildlife care through strategic partnerships with wildlife rehabilitation providers. NPWS is currently working to implement all the recommendations of this review. However, until that time the current Policy arrangements with respect to the licensing of fauna rehabilitation groups will remain in place. NPWS welcomes continued dialogue with WPS and the continued participation with you and your members in wildlife care through the existing network of licensed groups. Yours sincerely Melissa Giese

(M & R Wynan)

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Bridie’s Journey!

The extraordinary adventures of a lucky orphaned Wildlife Shelter reared wombat

Part 2

Bridie reappeared on the camera again at her original hole in mid-September 2012 and to the

dismay of all she had noticeable mange, which was known to be easily treatable if Cydectin could

be administered to her without her bolting away or down the hole.

Fortunately Bridie still retained some memory of her human family and when softly spoken to she

stopped and looked towards the voice.

This enabled the correct amount of Cydectin to be applied to Bridie using a washing machine

detergent powder measuring cup attached to a broom handle, then simply tipped over her in a

similar fashion to that shown in the picture below. The burrow flap method is then used to

continue the treatment.

Reg from Mange

Management Inc.

Applying the

initial dose of

Cydectin to a

mangy wombat

using the pole

and scoop

method to start

the healing

process and this

is the method

used on Bridie.

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Explanation of Mange or Scabies

A brief explanation of Mange for those readers who may not be familiar with mange or indeed this

method of treatment, Cydectin is a clear liquid pour on product and mange is caused by a mite that

burrows under the skin of all it infects. Contrary to what some may think, no one has immunity or

develops immunity to this mite. We do not develop immunity to head lice, fleas, bed bugs or

scabies (it is possible to have infestations of scabies many times all that is needed to be infected is

to come in contact with the mange mite). Scabies is easily cured in humans with the purchase of a

scabies cream from the chemist, no prescription needed.

These animals are all blood sucking parasites effecting humans and animals

Mange (Scabies) Mite 0.5 mm long

Bed Bug 4-5mm long Flea 1.5- 3 mm long Head lice 2- 4 mm long

Mange has been afflicting our wombats for many years; the vector is thought to be canine. Dogs,

even Koalas as well as many other animals, cattle, goats, foxes and deer can and do get mange.

Wombats often share holes with the fox which is also a carrier of mange, but do the wombats

infect the fox or does the fox infect the wombats or between the two of them perhaps they help to

spread the mite around.

Mange is a death sentence for a lot of animals and if left untreated they will die a slow very painful

death. Wombats in particular seem to suffer more than most animals; perhaps this is partially

determined by the way they live. Wombats spend much of their life underground in moist humid

burrows and are mostly nocturnal perhaps this in some way helps the mite.

Scabies mite is about

0.5 mm long and is the

only one that burrows

under the skin, causing

secondary problems of

infection.

This mite lays its eggs under

the skin and that causes

intense itching, scabbing

and dehydration of the

animal through fluid loss on

the exposed skin surface.

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There is also some difference of opinion as to when scabies arrived in Australia, a recent study

carried out by overseas Researchers determined from DNA samples that the mite originated in

Europe, if this is true then it possibly arrived with the first fleets, either with their animals (dogs,

cats, goats ) or with the sailors themselves. Other Researchers have labelled this work as unreliable.

Link to this research is: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00436-015-4422-2#page-1

Excellent information can also be obtained from: mangemanagement.org.au including a short

video of a burrow flap in action. It has often been asked, why not bring the wombat into care and

treat it until cured. The answer is that the wombat is already severely compromised and if taken

into a captive situation it will stress even more and most die very quickly, they will also lose their

territory to another wombat while in care. This in turn causes more problems for the animal with

no home to return to, it will have to re-establish itself in the forest. This approach to treatment is to

be avoided whenever possible.

Treating Bridie.

After the initial dose of Cydectin a burrow flap was set up at Bridie’s hole to hopefully continue the

treatment. Bridie obliged, used the burrow and received a number of weekly doses of the Cydectin

pour on product that cured her.

Bridie was looking good again on the pics from the motion sensor camera and it was around late

2012 when she again disappeared and was not seen again on the camera until around mid-2013.

The camera which was still in place recorded the comings and goings of a variety of animals in the

forest.

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This is a look at a few of an amazing variety of animals in the forest

A curious Bush rat who is a regular visitor

Unusual white deer Cute Baby Black or Swamp Wallaby

Echidna Lyre bird

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When Bridie reappeared she had another surprise in store for all and yes you guessed it she had a

small joey only months old.

After seeing this picture of Bridie with her the second joey and sometime later with Bridie

appearing on the fixed camera without her joey, alarm bells were ringing, where could joey be or

had something happened to it. This absence of joey created a more determined effort to find

Bridie’s other burrow. Eventually the burrow was located about 400m away and as suspected a

little deeper into the gully. A camera was then setup to record the activities around the burrow and

to everyone’s relief the joey eventually appeared on the camera. Bridie had been leaving her joey

alone while she went off and foraged. This burrow has been called the cave burrow as it is an

extremely large hole which must have been there for many years! It has been extended and re-

engineered by a succession of wombats, probably over several decades.

These are some of the pictures the motion sensor camera caught at the cave burrow of Bridie and

her joey over the next few months.

This picture was actually

taken about mid 2013 by

one of the fixed motion

sensor cameras. From this

picture and several other

pictures, the joey was

estimated to be around 6

months old.

Pied

Currawong

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This wombat on the

left turned up one

night for a look

around, (maybe dad!)

It was not unusual for

Bridie to leave her

joey alone at this hole

while she went off

foraging for a while.

Wombats did come

and visit, Bridie’s Joey

was never harmed by

any of them. The sex

of Bridie’s Joey had

been determined and

it is a cute little

female.

Cave hole

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It is now 2014 and joey is getting bigger, Bridie seems to be trying to encourage her Joey to look at

taking over the original hole as they are both spending more time there, joey more by itself there

now. The picture’s below were taken mid-2014.

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One of the last pictures taken of Bridie and her joey and was late 2014, it seems that joey did not

stay at the original hole but has gone off to make a life elsewhere on its own. Bridie said goodbye to

her Joey sometime in very late 2014 or very early in 2015.

One more trip with the DSLR camera was carried out in early 2015 to see if Bridie or joey might be

still around. As it happened Bridie was asleep in the sun at the base of one of her favourite gum

trees. She knew instantly something or someone was there but she was not overly alarmed, the

cave hole was only 2-3m away and she was very curious.

These few pictures were taken from about 8-10m and Bridie thought she was hiding from the

camera all the while watching intently.

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Bridie is now a very healthy adult, free living wombat, approaching 10 years old who has turned out

to be a great mum twice over.

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Some information on infrared motion sensor cameras

Infrared motion sensor cameras are marketed as Trail, Game or Scouting cameras.

All do pretty much what is claimed, however there is also a lot of hype associated with them,

which is:

• speed of trigger time (the time it actually takes to record the picture after sensing

movement)

• the distance the flash will reach

• and how big in megapixels the actual sensor is that records the image

Most image sensors are between approx. 2- 5 MP. There is also some misleading advertising along

with large price variations for identical models between the re-sellers. Some makes advertise

“12MP trail cameras” however this is done with software manipulation. Be wary of brands that

don’t show sensor size at all. None stop motion very well and a lot of blurry shots or nothing in the

frame will result from animals on the move. Most of these cameras are capable of recording short

videos and this tends to reduce battery life.

The pictures used in this article are from 3 different brands of infrared motion sensor cameras all

with similar specifications and all costing between $150 and $200.00.

There have been breakages with on-off switches, battery covers, a lens cover which is a clear plastic

piece about the size of a 5 cent coin that fell out exposing the sensor unit, a SD card cover catch

broken and one camera never worked at all out of the box.

Some cameras have low battery life! New models are arriving all the time with improvements to

battery life, wider camera angles (which may help picture capture) as well as allowing for larger SD

card memory i.e. up to 32Mb.

There are 4 different flash units used, the first type is a white flash similar to a normal camera flash

and there are 3 types of LED flash units. The second type of flash unit uses a clear LED array and

shows a visible dull red glow when activated, the third type uses a blue tinted LED array and is all

but invisible, the fourth type uses a black LED array and is claimed to be totally invisible to the

animals. All of the cameras used have been bitten, scratched, dislodged and bumped out of

position at some time by the animals, eye balls have been photographed along with big blobs of fur,

so they see something and from the time stamp we can see when.

The round black device in the middle

of the picture with a 10 cent coin on

one side and a standard SD card on

the other side is a typical image sensor

and lens unit commonly fitted to this

type of camera. This is the imaging

(picture) capture unit, complete with

the sensor chip, a lens and electronics.

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Strong flash units can also white out the picture shot and an easy fix is to simply put a piece of dark

tape over part of the flash array. This is trial and error to get it right. For best results it is

important set the camera up correctly, if you are trying to catch a small animal the camera needs to

be set low enough or it can be angled down (aimed down) at the required spot.

The future of our forests and wild life is in our hands and it is frightening.

It has become evident we know so little about our wildlife, we are learning more and more through

watching a wombat live its life by using fixed cameras to record the comings and goings on a

weekly, monthly and longer basis. Looking at the thousands of photos coming off these cameras

has certainly changed our way of thinking and also raised a lot of questions about the future of our

native wildlife.

Bridie has survived, flourished and replaced herself twice and is approaching 10 years of age, how

long will she live, could she have another joey. Was she seeking help when she was covered in

mange, was she disorientated, pushed out or showing signs of imprinting when she walked to the

school and the list goes on.

This section of the forest where Bridie lives is closed to shooting, dogs, 4wd and trail bikes open to

horse riders, who more often than not have a dog running alongside and open to walkers.

The forest is now in danger of being overrun with feral animals, there are illegal shooters in the

forest on a regular basis along with illegal trail bikes and 4 wheel drives who either smash or cut

through the locked gates or bush bash around them.

The foxes and wild dogs in the forest are living on something, the deer are competing for food,

water and ploughing up the forest, some think there may be pigs in this part, to date this is

unsubstantiated.

This part of the forest is due to have controlled burning take place which will achieve nothing but

place even more stress on the wonderful wildlife in there.

The possums, sugar gliders and anything else high in the trees will be fried, the small ground

dwellers will most likely not survive, the Wombats, Goannas, Wallaby’s etc. will starve if they are

not decimated and all the feral’s will outrun the fire and probably survive. A large number of trees

will not survive and the weeds Blackberry, Bone seed and others will take over. Blackberry was the

first weed to regenerate after the Black Saturday fires in this area.

Foot Note: A friend and also wombat carer went to a lot of trouble to get these great shots of Bridie and her joeys, being

prepared to sit if needed until she turned up. He thought he would do a junior David Attenborough and set out one night just before

dark armed with his good camera, a sandwich for his tea, a ladder to perch himself on, so as to be above the undergrowth and get

clear shot around the burrow, all camouflaged and out of view. He didn’t have to wait long for just on dusk he could hear something

pushing its way through the undergrowth and sure enough it was Bridie with joey in tow. Lucky for him he didn’t have a long wait as

he had only worn shorts and T shirt and as it was a warm night the mozzies and march flies were out in force. Fortunately he was

able to take a number of great shots, a few of which are shown here of Bridie and her Joey.

Thanks John.

Author: J. Merrick © 2015

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A guide for everyone considering making burrow flaps, it has been seen that the

relative light weight flaps can move excessively in the wind spilling much of the

contents, this is a simple fix to help prevent this occuring.

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Big Girl Getting Better! This is Big Girl: the wild wombat with a pelvic fracture, wombat carers, Lyn & Paul Obern are working with. She stood on all four feet two days ago and yesterday she walked for the first time using her back foot/leg pushing off with it as she should do. She only takes 3 steps and then stops to rest, but Lyn is really hoping this will work out for her now. She is eating grass outside daily, and moving herself around. She is very bony still, and Lyn think her pelvis fracture has healed but on the wonk slightly, probably due to her always resting on her side, which has fixed the fracture in a non symmetrical way, but if she can walk, run and dig, it really doesn’t matter if she is a bit lop sided when you look at her from above. When she fattens up Lyn doesn’t think it will be that noticeable. Lyn mentions that but the mess around her mouth as seen in the photo is the supplemented feed they are giving her by spoon. Paul is not nodding off in the picture! LOL!

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Pictures (Lyn and Paul Obyrne)

Wombat and pademelons, snowy Lake St Clair, Tasmania 2015 (Pic. M. Goerne)

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CONTACTS with WPSA

My name is Junko Williams from OCEAPRO; we are a TV production company on the Gold Coast currently working with NHK (NHK is Japan's national TV broadcaster like our ABC) to make a wildlife documentary on the WOMBAT.

I was wondering if you know of any place we can film a wombat joey in the pouch between July - early August 2015? Thank you for your time, and I look forward to your response. Kind regards, Junko Williams OCEAPRO

Hi, I believe a Wombat has begun burrowing under our house. The house has a low timber floor, just high enough to crawl under, and is fully enclosed, bar an open access hole. Can you please contact me on 0437040025 and advise how I can have this animal removed? Martin

I just thought I might pen a quick letter to you. I was amazed at a program showed on Sunday morning, on free to air TV called ‘jarjams’, a show on channel NITV (National Indigenous Television). According to NITV website, jarjams is a program: ‘Catering to all kids and kids at heart, we have fun and educational Indigenous and First Nations content ...’ To my surprise I was shocked to see a family group driving in a landcruiser, stopping and then shooting a group of wombats, throwing them in the back of the landcruiser and showing them off proudly before throwing one on an open fire to cook it. Generally I thought Indigenous people were better than that, knowing that wombat populations are on a decline. There’s no excuse for any thinking person to let this sort of behavior to continue not only in Australia but around the world. Japan with the whale meat, The Pilot Whale Massacre at the Faeroe Islands etc. all under[ the guise of ]‘our traditions must be maintained’. It’s all just an excuse to continue ignorant behavior, and must no longer be tolerated by a society living in the 21st century. I’m extremely disappointed in NITV and the Australian government to promote this behavior, especially to children. Kind Regards Marti Koskinen

Hello fellow Wombat enthusiasts. I'm not sure if this is relevant, but whilst holidaying in Mudgee, we passed through Capertee NSW. My husband and I counted approx 6+ dead wombats in the main town area over only 500m or so. (Despite the speed limit being

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50km/hr, assuming trucks are the culprit). It was very sad to see especially now that we know they are not as common as they should be. Hope this helps. Kind regards, Elise

Dear John,

Thank you for getting in touch. Thank you for your extensive research on wombats.* I'm an Honours student at the University of Western Sydney who has been co-ordinating the launch of our new website WomSAT (Wombat Survey and Analysis Tools). A fellow Honours student is monitoring a wombat population (spotlighting, burrow counts) in the Wolgan Valley as part of her work and has recently been reading your thesis. Through WomSAT we hope to engage the Australian community in the online mapping of wombats. It can be used to provide real-time distribution data and we are hoping it will shed light on the factors affecting wombats (e.g. current distribution of mange). Any geographical data will be useful for this long-term project; thank you for the maps. Candice Skelton WomSAT Project Coordinator

Editor’s Note: Dr John McIlroy supports WPSA and studied wombats for a PhD at ANU during 1968-71 and continued studies on them during his 27 Years with CSIRO. He now lives in New Zealand.

Phone Messages John Cowra advice on a wombat moving into his orchard Sharon- Wollondilly – Wombat Coordinator – Mange Advice Jason – Launceston – Mange advice Barbara – NHN numbers Suzy – Wires – Assess a wombat in Bega area

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Riding the Devil’s Highway

Tasmania might be known internationally as the home of the Hollywood cartoon character, Taz, based on

the real-life Tasmanian devil, but the island state has another claim to fame. It is also the roadkill capital of

the world, with one animal killed every two minutes on the bitumen, among them the endangered

Tasmanian devil. With so much roadkill on view, Tasmanians joke ironically that perhaps a glass-bottomed

bus tour should be added to the tourist itinerary and Donald Knowler takes up this theme in a book, Riding

the Devil’s Highway, chronicling the scale of the carnage, what can be done to reduce the toll and the heroic

efforts of those who go to the rescue of the animals and birds caught in the headlights.

The book is the result of a 10-year odyssey to explore the Tasmanian road kill phenomenon, which during

this time has seen Tasmanian devils not only dying in increasing numbers on the highways, but afflicted by a

fearful contagious cancer that has decimated numbers by 90 per cent in some areas. The devil is the largest

surviving marsupial carnivore and the author argues if measures already proven by researchers to be

practical and cost-effective are not taken to reduce the roadkill toll, the devil may well follow the same road

to extinction as the Tasmanian tiger.

Riding the Devil’s Highway is available as an ebook from Amazon and the Apple iBook store.

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