Burrows of Hope: Wombat Sanctuary Fund

by Wombat Support and Rescue NSW/ACT Incorporated

Project Report | May 2, 2026
Noel the Christmas Wombat

By Yolandi Vermaak | Project Leader

Noël is one of those wombats who seem a bit on the older side. It's nearly impossible to age a wombat once they reach maturity but sometimes you get a feeling. Sometimes it's just a really big wombat, huge paws, lots of battle scars, maybe the start of some grey around the mouth....still just guessing but we suspect Noël is older.

He lived in a southern suburb of Canberra, near a golf course. He was quite comfortable, had a few favourite houses and spots on certain lush lawns he liked, and made himself a next under shrubs during the day.

But it's always a concern when these guys live in suburbia. It's next to a nature reserve so why isnt he in the reserve, where there would be burrows.

While the community kept an eye on him, he wasn't entirely safe as a resident had a dog that was without supervision and attacked Noël. This is how we were notified the first time, around Christmas time. He had wounds on his back and maggots. We treated him in the field but let him go as it was possible to remove all the maggots. But soon after he was attacked again and this time was badly infested with maggots and infection before we were notified. This time we brought him into care to treat his wounds.

After a few weeks of recuperating, we noticed that he wasn't gaining weight and booked him in for a complete vet check-up. Our amazing vet found that he had a bacterial infection in both ears as well as mites in both ears, and also a staph skin infection.

He was also thin and we were advised that his recovery would take a long time as his overall system was worn down. But after he received medication for all his ailments, he started to look better and we decided it was time to move him to a larger enclosure where he would roam and dig and burrow. He loves it. He is very content and happy and will complete his recovery here.

The difficulty we face is in where to release him. Taking him back is one option, it is his territory and the hope is that now that he feels better, he wouldnt need to hang around the suburb. Sometimes wombats do this because they are asking for help.

But the risk is still this particular dog and whether the owner will oblige and keep it contained, or let it roam. The other option is a completely different site which is problematic for the boys, as they are so territorial. He would have been a good candidate if we had a safe sanctuary where there weren't too many other wombats to compete with and if we could keep an eye on him.

For now, we are just focussing on his recover. He is a very gentle and sweet boy. All of us love him and the residents of this community loves getting little updates about him. They genuinely care about Noël and it warms the heart knowing a whole community out there loves this one wombat that much.

Hopefully we have a solution in time for when his release day comes.

Thank you as always for your support and for being a part of our journey.

Kind regards

Yolandi

Links:

Noel moving to a big enclosure

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Oct 15, 2025
Our precious girlies

By Yolandi Vermaak | Project Leader

Hi to our amazing supporters.

You may or may not know...but we suffered a terrible tragedy this month.

We were on the cusp of releasing our beautiful girlies Molly, Maggie and Misha. They were around 22kg and we were starting to look at release sites. The few we have up our sleeve so to speak.

But one evening, it became clear that Molly was unwell. She deteriorated very quickly although she was seen by our vet. There just wasn't enough time to find what was going on with her and 5 days after her symptoms started, she passed away.

While we were still grappling with her loss, that night after her death, Maggie and Misha became ill. We moved them to the hospital pen, they were on a variety of medications but we still didn't quite know what monster we were fighting. Despite our best efforts, both died within hours of each other, a week after Molly died.

This would be the hardest event for me personally in my wombat career. Losses do happen but this one hit hard. For all of us.

A tragic event like this inevitably makes you question everything. And ultimately if you are continuing on this journey or not. Notwithstanding the pain, it simply isn't an option for me to stop. All things considered, I know the need out there is still there, and getting bigger every day.

That means the need for releasing wombats that made it through their rehabiliation period is increasing too. And we simply don't have enough space to let them go. The dream of having a safe sanctuary, or better worded would be a safe release site, well away from most dangers, is still a big focus point.

It is slow going in getting there, but we are. We will. The support we receive daily is incredible, and every cent that we can spare away from running the organisation, and primarily buying mange medication, is funnelled towards the sanctuary fund.

My hope is that the perfect property will show itself, and we can use what we have as a start, and fundraise for the balance. It is out there, I just have to find it.

Thank you for your continued support. It means the world to me that people from all over the world are so invested in these amazing beautiful animals. Who join in the joys and sorrows of each one of them. My sincerest gratitude to you all.

We farewell these beautiful girls. A tribute to Molly

All my love

Yolandi

Links:

Tribute to Molly

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Apr 3, 2025
An update on Zulu

By Yolandi Vermaak | Project Leader

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

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