Wombat Appeal

Brookfield Conservation Park recently had the privilege of hosting a team of researchers from the USA and Australia. This program was supported by the generosity of our Global Giving donors, providing funds to cover some of the costs for accommodation. A huge thank you to all of you!

Researcher Faith, PhD, Director of Genetics, Bat Ecology & Genetics Lab, School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, pioneered a method of collecting the hair of wombats as they leave their burrows and analysing the DNA in hair follicles to discover information about how many wombats there are, and their relationships to each other and where they go.

It is 16 years since Faith did her original work and she made a special trip from Arizona in the USA to South Australia, in April, to repeat her study with fellow Australian researchers and others. The aim is to find out if some of her original wombats are alive and whether the numbers of wombats have changed. This is important information, especially given the change in the ecology of the area, and will help guide the management of the Brookfield Conservation Park.

Conservation Volunteers Australia’s Regional Manager, Tricia Curtis explains, “Faith selected some warrens that had our existing camera traps set up so we can increase the information gathered for this study, by viewing photos of the wombats she collected hair samples from. This is a great task for our Brookfield volunteers to view and document camera trap data.”

The team of researchers secured enough funds to undertake the data collection at Brookfield and to analyse a small amount of that data. They now need to secure additional funds to complete the laboratory work, which will take a technical expert working over several months. Tricia says “We are hoping we can assist with this to ensure we get the much needed information to complete the picture.” Please consider donating again if you can or sharing our story to help us raise these vital funds to ensure the wombat’s ongoing survival.

The following series of photos below, captured on our new remote sensor cameras, tells the story of the successful collection of hair samples, along with an inquisitive kangaroo! We were also privileged to capture this short video of a wombat mum with a joey in her pouch. From the size of the pouch, the joey would be about 6 months old.