Burrows of Hope: Wombat Sanctuary Fund

This wombat I named Zulu, is truly a remarkable wombat.

He has faced so much adversity, a true warrior, just like the Zulu nation in the country I am originally from.

When Zulu came into care mid 2024 he was badly attacked by other wombats, very very sick with infection and sepsis and close to dying. We also saw damage to his face which I already told you about. The tooth issue. And losing part of his lip.

This year, in January, Zulu made a great escape from his enclosure and we hoped that he found his way to the Molonglo river which is just a stone's throw from his enclosure. There was a good chance that he could be ok, find a burrow and settle into this new territory.

But unfortunately the Molonglo River Corridor is very popular and urban development is going full-steam ahead. Which means heavily populated with humans, pushing wombat populations into smaller territories on top of each other. The result is that the wombat populations are dense and a newcomer, especially an older boy, is going to struggle to find a vacant burrow and will be attacked by resident territorial males protecting their burrows.

Zulu didnt fare well and was attacked. He walked as the crow flies 6km's and found himself in a suburb across the river and a busy road. A few people reported seeing a wombat loitering in their yards and finally we tracked down this wombat, not knowing who it was and caught him. Just in time too because his wounds were already flyblown.

When he was sedated so we could clean his wounds, I noticed the lip and tooth and realised this was Zulu! I was ecstatic (also very sad that he had such a hard time but so happy he survived and came to humans to ask for help).

So he is back in care. A couple of vet visits to still work on his teeth to make sure he can survive. That is still a work in progress.

But if any wombat ever hightligted to me the dire need for us to have a sanctuary it is Zulu. A large piece of land where I can safely release into a low density population and be able to keep an eye on them. 

The fundraising is going painfully slow but I'm hoping that we can start looking and once we found the perfect property and know what it will cost, can then fundraise directly for that particular property. Maybe that's the way to do it. But this is the legacy I want to leave behind. A safe environment that is legally protected from agriculture and farming and a sanctuary in perpetuity. From small dreams big things happen.

As always thank you for your support, everything we can spare every month goes direclty into the Sanctuary Fund.

Kind regards

Yolandi

Wombat Rescue

Links:

• Zulu update