Help save the Bare-Nosed Wombat

One of the wild wombats that we have been treating for a while, is named Chessi. She's a girl :) She was also suffering from sarcoptic mange, a disease that kills wombats after months of intense suffering.

Chessi was reported by the landowner and we started treatment right away. We also set up a motion censor, night vision wildlife camera to monitor her progress.

Chessi received treatments for mange between June 2022 and November 2023. In the beginning her eyes were crusted over and she was effectively blind. Mange causes a severe allergic reaction and thick mange plaques form all over their bodies. Even their soft and thin eyelids. This crust transform the eyelids into rockhard skin that cannot move, which means even though she isnt' blind, she can't open her eyes so she can't see.

Within 2-3 months it was obvious that Chessi was getting better as her eyes weren't crusted anymore. By November 2022 she looked very good, fur has started to grow back and she was moving very fast. She still had mange unfortunately, which is visible as the gill-like striations on her side.

In this time, disaster struck. She was mid-treatment but a fox took over her tree-burrow and she disappeared. We didn't know where to although we searched and investigated every report of a manged wombat that came in from the area.

She was still unwell so the worry was that her mange would increase and spread again. 

Chessi was finally spotted by the landowner in March 2023 and we put the camera back in the tree-burrow and started treatment.

Unfortunately this time Chessi is much sicker as her mange has progressed unchecked for the last 4 months. It will take some time to fully heal but we are hopeful that we can keep track of her this time and that foxes won't interfere again.

Our wildlife face so many crisis, interference by pest animals is just one of many but foxes in particular are culprits in more than one way as they also spread and carry sarcoptic mange.

Chessi has now had 2 doses of treatment and will continue to be closely monitored. Every trip to visit her or service the camera or check footage is an hour roundtrip but we do this not just for her, but for every wombat that we are asked to help with.

Links:

• Tracking Chessi's treatment over 12 months