Majors Creek Wombat Refuge in Majors Creek, New South Wales, Australia | Community organisation

Majors Creek Wombat Refuge

Locality: Majors Creek, New South Wales, Australia

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• Non-profit organisation
• Charitable organisation
• Community organisation

25.01.2022 Thank you so much!!

25.01.2022 While we were busy with NARG matters, Les still managed to feed all the little ones as well as go on a NARG rescue of a poor fence hanging kanga and get it to NARG kanga specialist Steve at Possumwood for intensive care. I had to help with the volunteers but also managed to fit in a euth of a sad female kanga with a severely injured knee. BUSY DAY!!! The Refuge will soon have all our family back so the next few days might get even more hectic. We are hosting a vet visit from Jane the Canberra zoo vet who is coming to help any carer who would like their animal looked at. Just call 48461900 if you want to come. Sorry about the short notice but would love wildcare laoko and wrsc folk to bring their critters if they want to.

25.01.2022 Do you now share our frustration with government agencies??

23.01.2022 Social Distancing Wombat Refuge style! (Picture painted by Tara Cull, @tussockstudiodrawings an Australian artist living in Montpellier in France, a friend of my sister, also in France!!!)

21.01.2022 Number two wet baby arrived just after lunch today. She just walked up to Chris's house and "knocked on his door". she then wandered around his yard trimming his lawn until I arrived and picked her up. One little hiss and then she went to sleep in Les' arms. Another local rescue on behalf of NARG.

21.01.2022 Here you go one and all!! If you are emailing to order, make sure you include your postal address so NARG can calculate postage fees for you. Have a look at NARG website www.narg.asn.au

20.01.2022 Thank you customers and staff at Dry Fall Brewing!!

19.01.2022 Here are the bank details for donating to James Fitzgerald Wildlife Sanctuary Two Thumbs Wildlife Trust. BSB 062 523 Account 1024 7675

17.01.2022 Last week was a busy week thanks to the recent rain!! Some calls came via NARG hotline and some directly to us. As well as the flood babies in our previous post who came in last Monday and Tuesday, we had a 20 kg girl come in Thursday who had been hit by a car (Thank you for stopping Nathan!!!). Sadly, she didn't make it. On Friday, we had to rescue a 19 kg female who had been attacked by another wombat. She had two deep, pus -filled bite wounds on her back. She was determine...d to make rescuing her difficult. She squeezed her way into the pointy end of a "Canadian- style" canoe stored upside down beside a shed. Getting her out of this was a lot of fun! NOT! Her wounds were not great either!! Then on Saturday we got another call for a pinky wombat baby (Thanks to NARG member Pixie for her rescue!) The little one was very badly bruised but is still with us. That is her in the photo being syringe fed- a long slow process! She is the second pinky in a couple of weeks. The first pinky was only 115 grams and she is now 320 and doing great. Hopefully they will become a "pair" before too long. Stay safe,everyone. Les and Bill See more

17.01.2022 James spent 5 weeks on and off here at Majors Creek Wombat Refuge helping us defend against the several bushfires threatening us over those weeks. He is a close friend to us, our wombats and to the "wildfolk" of the region. He rescued many animals while he was here and helped deliver lots of food to the food station people. Please help him with a donation and please share widely. https://www.gofundme.com/f/koala-habitat-and-bushfire-resea

16.01.2022 Hi there, me again. I have two pallets of pellets to unload and stack in the containers for the wild animals out on the fireground and here at the Majors Creek Wombat Refuge. Could I please have help from a couple of volunteers at about 6 or 7 this evening to help unload them. And YES there will be BEER involved!!! (or wine if you really want some!) Much love!! Wombatbill xxxx (four kisses and the name of beer!)

15.01.2022 World Wombat Day didn't go by without at least one wombat being killed by a motor vehicle and the baby in the pouch left to die. The little girl in the photo came to us on Thursday night. She is the 12th pinky wombat to come to us this year. She was covered in gravel and had it in her eyes, ears, nose, pouch and cloaca because her mother had been dragged along a dirt road. After a warm bath her injuries became obvious: gravel rash, bruising and, sadly, a broken leg. X-rays were taken and 2 different vets confirmed that the leg was broken through the growth plate. It would never grow properly and she could never lead a normal life. Sadly, the decision was made to end her suffering. Poor little soul. Sleep in peace, sweet little girl.

14.01.2022 Thanks to Aaron from NBN for the drone shot. Just to show the extent of our folly.

13.01.2022 WRT NATIONAL THREATENED SPECIES WEEK, POST 2/7 . . THE WAY OF THE TIGER Lessons we should have learnt from the loss of the Tasmanian Tiger. ... . . There’s a new culture in the top end of government. Wildlife is just tucked in with Primary Industries and the agenda is primary-industry driven. We don’t do enough about wildlife disease. Androo Kelly, Managing Director at Trowunna Wildlife Sanctuary discussing Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD). . . Today is National Threatened Species Day. It is the day that Benjamin, the last Tasmanian Tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) died due to exposure in a Hobart Zoo in 1936. Its extinction is not exactly unique; since colonisation at least 29 mammals have become extinct and this number is expected to climb. However, it is a day commemorated due to the nature of the species’ extinction. The thylacine was an animal driven to extinction by a combination of human persecution and severe government inaction, and it was a species whose true uniqueness and value only became apparent when it was already tipping over the edge. . Today, we want to talk about the lessons we’ve learnt (or didn’t learn) from the thylacine’s extinction, and how patterns of behaviour then is parallel to the patterns of behaviour we see today with many unique Australian species, including the bare-nosed wombat. . At the time Australia was being colonised, thylacine numbers were estimated to be ~5000, though due to inadequate survey techniques and the fact that many areas of Tasmania were inaccessible at the time, this number may have been higher. From the first moment it was discovered it was feared and loathed. Misunderstandings about the animal’s nature and physical capacity led to it being labelled a sheep-killer and persecuted mercilessly. However, recent studies suggest the thylacine was half the size as originally thought, making it impossible for it to take down a sheep. Even as these ideas subsided, its curious biology caused it to be hunted for fur and to be sold for a high price to zoos and private collectors within and outside of Australia. .. Between 1888 and 1909, bounties paid by the government resulted in the presentation of 2184 thylacine carcases, though it is speculated that up to half the thylacines killed in this time were never presented for bounty collection, which would have meant that the amount of thylacines killed in this time was possible double the recorded figure. Habitat alteration and loss, diseases (possibly mange), and the ingestion of poisoned baits laid for Tasmanian Devils probably sealed the fate of those that managed to escape the traps. . One of the earliest people to sound the alarm of the thylacines decline was naturalists and artist John Gould. This was in the mid 1800’s. By early 1900’s, many other scientists, naturalists and concerned members of the public were also crying out for a protection of the species. At the time, after being presented with evidence of thylacine numbers declining, the government established a new Animals and Birds Protection Board. It was a board stacked with appointees with vested interests in the timber, hunting and agriculture industries. Needless to say, no protection was offered. . The Director of Hobart’s Tasmanian Museum, Clive Lord, did not give up fighting for thylacines and in 1930 a small amount of protection was afforded to them, protecting them from hunting and trapping only in December (believed to be its mating season), a law that was largely ignored by trappers. By 1905 bounties pretty much stopped there could be no more found in the wild. . In July 1936 the thylacine was finally granted full protection. By September 1936, the last known Tasmanian tiger had died. . This series of events should never have been repeated, however, the same attitudes almost saw the Tasmanian Devil become extinct as well. . Devil Facial Tumour Disease was first photographed in 1996, though there is some anecdotal evidence that the disease may have been around for years before. In 1998, the first local population decline was observed in the Freycinet Peninsular. By 2003 the alarms were sounding with Environment Minister Bryan Green stating that some populations of devils had declined by 85%. In the same year a workshop was set up to tackle the problem, but some prominent experts in devils and DFTD were excluded from the conversation, most likely due to political reasons. Fortunately, as a result of the workshop, some steps were finally taken to help Tasmanian Devils, such as establishing a population monitoring program. . Through a Freedom of Information act request, DPIPWE documents revealed that government was too slow to react. The of a lack of long-term monitoring program meant the battle to save them would be much harder. . Consider now the situation we are in with regards to mange in wombats. While we are fortunately not seeing obvious signs of overall population declines by such significant numbers as 85%, we have seen local populations driven to extinction or near extinction (for example, Narawntapu in Tasmania’s north). . Currently, a large collection of small volunteer organisations are attempting to tackle the problem. We are calling for government assistance and are receiving some, but nowhere near enough. Wombats are still not fully protected. Will we have to wait until wombats are sitting at the edge of extinction before government truly takes notice? Will that even be enough? Only time will tell. In the meantime, we will keep doing what we can, saving one animal at a time and we will keep sounding the alarm until someone listens. . . . Video: Benjamin The last Tasmanian Tiger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYXuhGzqiEY . *All Information and quote taken from David Owen’s ‘Thylacine’ - https://www.booktopia.com.au/thylacine//9781742376318.html - and David Owen and David Pemberton’s ‘Tasmanian Devil’ -https://www.booktopia.com.au/tasmanian//9781742376301.html -. Both fascinating books for those who like history and/or the natural world. #nationalthreatenedspeciesday #wombats #mangemanagement #wombatrescuetasmania #wrt #mange #mangetreatment #vombatusursinus #wildlife #wombatlove #wildlifecarers #tassiewildlife #wildlifeconservation #australianwildlife

10.01.2022 This sweet girl was dropped in to the vet yesterday and then brought in to the refuge. She was very dirty from her ordeal losing her mother who was killed on the road.

10.01.2022 This is Dylan Bibi who stayed with us during the fires and who helped bring the wombats home!

09.01.2022 MCWR update June 2020 It has been quite a while since we have had time to post. Like everywhere else, life here at Majors Creek Wombat Refuge the last 6 months has been horrendous/ terrible/ confronting/ distressing. First with the ongoing drought, then with the fires (we evacuated ourselves and the wombats 3 times with 3 different fires), then the floods (at one stage we had Ember a small wombat burned in the fires in one basket and a week later Noah, who was rescued fr...om the floods, in another). Then came the virus and lockdown (although our life didn’t change much- we don’t go anywhere). Then, at Easter, Bill chopped the top of two fingers off with the circular saw while building a wombat box. Through all this, the animals kept coming in- wombats, kangaroo and wallabies, possums, a couple of eagles, lizards, bats and even a koala. We kept the wombats and moved the others on to specialist carers. Many of these animals were in poor condition either as a result of the drought or the fires. Some weeks we got someone every day. Some days we got more than one animal. Some survived and, sadly, some did not. We have a lot of wombats currently in care and more are yet to come- yes, a new one even today!. Where they will be released when they are ready is another problem. Almost all of our release sites were burned and will take a long time to recover. We would like to sincerely thank the people who have helped us directly here at the refuge. Many thanks also to those who helped us with our NARG work of feeding the surviving animals on the edges of the firegrounds. A special thanks to those who helped us with financial gifts. We are so very grateful. Here are a few photos of some of the many animals that have come through our hands here at the refuge over the past few months. There is also a shot of the fire in the Monga approaching Majors Creek. Thanks Les and Bill Wombatslaves MCWR July 1 2020

08.01.2022 Welcome to Majors Creek Wombat Refuge "Winnie Harlow". (named after the famous Canadian model with the strikingly fascinating and beautiful skin pigmentation.) Our Winnie has both a white foot as well as a blaze down her chest- most unusual. Winnie is a recent arrival here: one of quite a few over the last couple of months. Watch out for a big future posting outlining our fire/ flood/ iso period.

07.01.2022 Thank you everyone who has been supporting us through this ordeal. Much love.

06.01.2022 Hot off the press as they say!

05.01.2022 Thanks for your work Alex... and on a Sunday too!!!!!!

05.01.2022 Here is our first little flood victim, found by Alison and rescued by us here in Major's Creek this morning sitting beside large puddles of water on the verge of the road. Mother probably drowned along with countless others in their burrows. Please everyone, keep a watch out for little orphans like this little 3 kg baby. These big rain events often have similar results. Keep your eyes peeled and ring NARG 48461900 (or your local group in your area) for immediate assistance. Please stay with the animal if at all possible until a rescuer can get there, or bundle it up yourself and get it to us. Thanks everyone. Stay safe.

01.01.2022 Here is little news story by Jack from the press in Asia.

01.01.2022 The artist who created the lovely poster is Tara Cull @tussockstudiodrawings. Find her on fb and that hashtaggy place!