Hello Wombat

The Hills-Hornsby Rural Koala Project (HHRKP) has been deploying wildlife cameras for over a year through the forests of Glenorie and Maroota. During this time many different animals have been caught on camera. It is very rewarding to see the range of animals that live in our area and this highlights the importance of our forests.

Every month HHRKP will share photographs from the cameras of one special animal with the readers of the Glenorie Galston News. This month our very special animal is the Wombat.

These gorgeous animals show up frequently on the cameras because there are many Wombats through out our bushland.

Wombats survived the horrific fire in 2002 in their extensive network of burrows. Their footprints were noted in the ash soon after the fire. Wombats eat grasses, shrubs, roots and bark so in the days after the fire finding food would have been challenging and there may have been hungry wombats wandering around.

They also seemed to cope well with the recent floods with wombat tracks being seen in the mud when the water receded.

All film of the Wombats in the Maroota Forest area show healthy mange free animals. As mange is a terrible disease for wombats and it occurs in many areas it is great to know that so far no mange has been recorded in any of the wombats caught on film.

The large healthy wombat populations in our bushland are greatly valued and we need to look after them.

Wombats have been killed by dogs in packs and by cars on roads and fire trails.

Please do not let dogs roam in the bushland and respect our animals by driving with care.

For more information please see Hills-Hornsby Rural Koala Project Facebook page or call Lilly on 0424 844 740.