I began studying wombats half a century ago, or rather they began studying me. They decided I was acceptable, and let me share their lives, from mating to being their chosen companion in their final days.

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I've watched a wombat use a tomato stake as a lever to remove a rock, push a box to a garden chair, then the garden chair to an open window, then climb up both so she could scramble through the window and onto my lap.

Do not ignore a wombat who is trying to communicate.

On one unforgettable morning, I saw a young wombat drag and roll his recently killed mother back to the safety of their burrow.

The recent report on wombats in the ACT is nonsense, so far from what many studies have revealed that it's not worth refuting point by point.

Trash it.

Wombats have suffered a major decline in the ACT in the past five years, dwarfing previous declines. Those who are ignorant of wombat behaviour assume that if they see more wombats, then there are more wombats.

The opposite is true. When there is heat, food and water stress, wombats are attracted to farm dams, green lawns and green road verges. Seeing more wombats is a characteristic of desperation and decline, not abundance.

A new strain of mange appears to have spread since the 2019/20 fires, though stress has also made wombats more vulnerable, as has coccidiosis, spread by feral and domestic cats.

No research had been done on wombat population, ecology or health when I began in the 1970s, apart from a study in the 1960s by a 14-year-old boy, Peter Nicholson.

The results of large-scale, sophisticated studies are now available. It's a pity those who compiled the ACT report didn't read them, or apparently didn't even know they exist.

Thanks to pioneers like........

© Canberra Times