January 26th, 2026Hepburn Wildlife News
At any particular time there are several orphaned baby wombats being cared for at the Hepburn Wildlife Shelter. They have lost their mothers through car strike, animal attack and more recently bushfire. Many wombats are killed by cars when they are attempting to cross the road.
It is very important to drive thoughtfully in rural areas, you don’t know what may be around the next corner. If you see a wombat that has been killed and it doesn’t have an X painted on it, this means that no one has checked its pouch for a live joey.
The shelter’s Gayle Chappell tells me that it may be very difficult to remove a joey from a dead wombat’s pouch and it may be better to bring the whole wombat to the shelter rathan than try to remove the joey (especially if you have long fingernails, as these can scratch the baby animal). If you do find a joey, put it in a warm, dark place (in a jumper), don’t pet it as this will frighten it, and contact the wildlife shelter.
The two joeys in the photographs (Granite and Pebble [inset]), were both found in wombats that had been hit by a vehicle and left on the road to die. Luckily for little Pebble, its mother had not been dead for very long before a kind passer-by stopped to check the mother’s pouch and found it.
Unfortunately the other joey, Granite, had been inside its dead mother’s pouch in the middle of the road for at least a day. A dog or fox had tried unsuccessfully to drag the joey from its mother and injured the joey’s leg. Consequently, it was very difficult for the kind passer-by to remove the terrified joey from the pouch, and it was very traumatised when it arrived at the wildlife shelter.
These orphaned joeys have now settled into life at the Hepburn Wildlife Shelter. They will require feeding and daily care for 12 months. Then they will start to make their way out to explore the forest, whilst coming back to the safety of the shelter for rest and food.
This is the shelter’s soft release program, which means that the animals are not taken and released into another animal’s territory. This method allows the animal to find its own territory whilst exploring from the safety of the wildlife shelter. After a period of three years the little wombats will be grown up and totally wild.
Bare-nosed wombats live in burrows in the ground. They will often have more than one burrow in their territory. The burrows are comprised of tunnels and chambers where nests are created in the breeding season. Tunnels can be up to 30 metres long and the whole burrow can cover a radius up to 150 metres.
Wombats are quite sociable and it is thought that they may sometimes share their burrows with other wombats.
The orphaned wombats at the shelter like to hang out together and like many baby animals they often get together to play chasey!
If you would like to help wombat research, you can record any sightings of live or deceased wombats at WomSat.org.au
Dr Marita McGuirk is a field ecologist and environmental scientist, and a volunteer at the Hepburn Wildlife Shelter. Marita writes monthly columns about the shelter and the animals it cares for. If you would like to donate or volunteer, or just to find out more information, head to www.hepburnwildlifeshelter.org
Image: Barb Davies
Words by Marita McGuirk
