I'm a wildlife rehabilitator from the south coast of NSW and
have had a love affair with Australian wildlife for the past
25 years.
I
fell in love with possums and gliders in the early eighties.
This love progressed to a passion with macropods and has now
developed into a full blown obsession with the very wonderful
world of Bare-Nosed Wombats. What has fed this obsession beyond
all comprehension was my recent mid-life crisis.
In
February this year my friend June and I had the life-changing
opportunity to be caretakers for the highly endangered Northern
Hairy-Nosed Wombat at Epping Forest National Park deep in central
Queensland.
I
would like to share this experience with you.
Crisis?
What Crisis?
June
and I have been the best of wildlife friends for many years.
When I first mentioned the possibility of "doing time at
Epping" we were both very aware of the consequences of
our decisions. It could end a wonderful friendship, or it could
be the start of something even stronger.
We
are both married to wonderful husbands (June for 35 years and
me for 43) who do all the "men's work". How could
we ever live without their help and protection?
After
much soul-searching we decided that we were both overdue for
a well earned mid-life crisis and started to plan our six week
"great escape" to the Deep North.
As
the date got closer the anticipation grew to fever pitch until
finally Sunday 28th January arrived.
After
fare-welling family and with the radio blasting and feeling
a bit like Thelma and Louise, we hit the highway. Hopefully
we were NOT heading for a cliff! The trip to Epping Forest too
us 3 days with a few stops for some retail therapy.
We
arrived at Epping on a wet 1st of February. The previous caretakers
showed us around quickly as they were keen to leave before being
flooded in.
So
there we were.....
Epping
and the Wombats
Once
widespread throughout Australia's eastern states, the Northern
Hairy-Nosed Wombat is now restricted to a single small population
of only 115 individuals in Epping Forest National Park (scientific)
in central Queensland.
Largest
of the three wombat species, the Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat
is one of the world's most endangered mammals. It may have been
uncommon even before European settlement, but has declined rapidly
as a result of loss of habitat caused by unfriendly pastoral
practices, cattle and sheep grazing in particular, especially
during droughts.
The
Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat lives in a harsh, semi-arid environment
where temperatures can reach 45c. To survive in these conditions,
the heavy, short-limbed animals are almost totally nocturnal,
burrowing in isolated patches of deep sandy soil where they
sleep for up to 18 hours a day.
Recovery
Program and Help from other Agencies
To
help the Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat, a team of people from
government agencies, wildlife-friendly local graziers, universities,
zoos and conservation groups is overseeing a recovery plan for
the species by....
| 1. |
. |
Protecting
the population at Epping Forest National Park by controlling
dingoes and monitoring Eastern Grey Kangaroo numbers. |
| 2. |
|
Improving
the quality of their feed by manipulation of habitat
|
| 3. |
|
Researching
their behaviour, reproductive biology and general ecology. |
| 4. |
|
Developing
techniques by researching the closely related Southern Hairy-Nosed
Wombat. |
| 5. |
|
Breeding
and researching captive animals. |
| 6. |
|
Establishing
a second wild population through translocation. |
Base
Camp at Epping
The
camp site at Epping is very basic. Hopefully electricity will
be connected by the end of this year. It is also hoped that
new "dongers" will be erected early next year. You
know someone's been to Queensland if they call a site shed a
"donger"!!!
At
the moment electricity can only be obtained by a generator and
solar power.
While
we were at Epping the large generator stopped working and we
had to wait until a smaller one was purchased.
The
worst part of having no power is there is no pump to run the
shower, so June and I opted to shower outside under the tap
on the tank. That worked well until the level of the water in
the tank fell too low and then the tap did not work, but we
still managed. We stank, but we managed!
Because
the roof area of the dongers is very limited, water storage
is a problem but one that will also be solved when the new dongers
are built as the roof area of the new buildings will be much
larger.
It's
not Five Star!
Base
camp is not "five star" : probably not even 1 star.
Is there such a rating as No Star? There is now!
It
is very basic with a gas cook-top and a gas fridge that only
just keeps the food cool. The small freezer on the fridge did
work and kept the dozens of water ice blocks frozen. These ice
blocks were a god-send and we used them as a reward whenever
we finished a hot, hard day.
Our
first four days were very wet. However, this turned out to work
to our advantage as it gave us enough time to find our feet
and get to learn the ropes before Alan and the crew arrived.
The
Arrival of Alan and the Team
Most
caretakers at Epping are by themselves for the whole month.
The only contact with the outside world is the phone. Families
are welcome to call and every Monday and Thursday we had to
phone Queensland National Parks at Emerald to report all was
OK.
Caretakers
may go to Clermont, a small town about two and a half hours
drive from Epping. We did go once to purchase more supplies
but it is such a long drive on a dirt road, once was enough
for us. Also, if it rains, Mistake Creek (which is a creek that
you have to drive through to get to Clermont) floods and we
would be unable to get back to Epping.
To
have five extra people staying with us for a week was something
we looked at with mixed feelings. Our routine would be interrupted
but we would have a variety of people to talk to and to learn
from. The team consisted of Alan, undoubtedly the King of Epping
(Alan's real title is Senior Conservation Officer), Paul the
Translocation Project Manager, Andrea a vet with passion for
wildlife, Rinna a student and Terry another volunteer. Terry
also managers a wildlife park in north Queensland. June recognised
Andrea as a vet that worked in our area about 15 years ago.
It just shows what a small world it is.
Our
Aims for the Week
Our
aims within the week that Alan and the team were there with
us were:
| 1. |
. |
Trap
Audrey and Zena and remove their tracking collars. |
| 2. |
|
Remove
old feeders and replace with new ones.
|
| 3. |
|
Build
a kangaroo trap yard. |
The
fence was erected in 2002 after a pack of dingoes invaded Epping
and killed an unknown number of wombats (at least 10). The fence
is about 20 kilometers long and encircles Epping Forest.
Trapping
Audrey and Zena
Two
traps were set on Wednesday and on Wednesday night, Zena was
trapped and her tracking collar removed. June and I were unable
to go with the team that night as other visitors from NPWS had
arrived during the day and there was no room.
Thursday
was a hard, not day as we removed a lot of old feeders from
the feeding stations and were in the process of replacing them
with the new model.
With
dinner over, we sat around on the small verandah while Alan
played the guitar and we tried to sing (interrupted by much
laughter).
It
was after 11pm before we all went to bed; we were just dozing
when Alan called to say that they had something in the trap.
We
loaded up two cars with all the necessary gear and set off.
Alan, Andrea and Paul walked the one kilometre into the burrow
area to make sure it as a wombat in the trap and not a wallaby
or some other animals. We got a call on the two-way that it
was indeed Audrey and to come in and bring the cage loaded with
all the gear (boy was it heavy!).
We
walked through "Harry Potter scale" spider webs, were
attacked by giant mosquitoes and tripped over logs an branches,
but arrived about 15 minutes after the call.
When
we arrived at the burrow, Audrey had already been tranquilized
and was ready for the removal of her tracking collar. After
all the medical work was carried out on Audrey, Alan asked if
June and I would like to hold her. Holding Audrey was one of
the most emotional experiences of our lives. Both June and I
had tears in our eyes as we each took our turn to nurse this
most majestic wombat.
We
were both so nervous that we could hardly hold this creature.
One of only a handful of these wonderful creatures.
The
Day After Trapping Audrey
The
next day it was all hands on deck.
We
were all on a high after having such a successful night but
had to front up bright and early for the next morning to start
building the kangaroo feed station.
The
idea of this yard was to encourage Eastern Grey Kangaroos in,
and release them outside the National Park; this hopefully would
keep the numbers down.
Since
erection of the dingo fence, kangaroo and wallabies that are
inside the fenced area have bred to large numbers and are now
competing with wombats for food and water.
I
did think while building the yard that 'roos would never go
through the one way gate system, but within the first few days
of monitoring the finished compound with the Bushnell cameras
we found that the kangaroos were coning in to eat the feed that
June and I had left out for them.
Alan
has since advised me that they have indeed released 25 kangaroos
out into surrounding areas. Relocating kangaroos certainly worked
there and is definitely possible in other "captive population"
situations. An update from Alan has informed me that the trap
yards have been so successful they are building another one.
Alan
Keeps His Promise
Alan
did promise that if the temperature got to 45C we would be able
to go for a swim. He did not tell us that we would have to jump
the dingo fence and sneak into the dam next door!
After
getting into the murkiest water I have ever been in and getting
bitten by lord knows what, we all agreed that it had been worth
the effort.
Terry
and Paul had left Epping so it was us girls (with a bit of help
from Alan) to finish the kangaroo feed station.
Then
came the hard part; putting up the wire. For people that have
never been involved in fencing, believe me, compound wire has
a life of its own!! It is also very heavy!
While
building the compound our days started around 5.30am. We tried
to get back to camp between 12.30-1pm to hopefully miss the
hottest part of the day, we then went back out about 4pm and
returned about 7pm.
One
night after we returned to camp Alan went to fill up the small
generator with fuel so we could all have a shower, he returned
a few minutes later to inform us that he had been bitten on
the finger by a Red Back Spider. Andrea turned from bating a
vet into becoming a doctor.
After
phoning Clermont hospital and getting advice from the real doctor
we decided that he would not die that night.
Clermont
is too far and as Alan only got bitten because it was his turn
to cook dinner, he would just have to suffer until the next
day. (I must admit that we did all fuss over him that night,
cutting his meal up and making sure he had plenty of nice cold
fluid).
Alan
and Andrea did go into Clermont the next day to pick up the
rest of the new feeders and Andrea did take him to the hospital
where he got the all clear.
Alan
did go back to work with us the next day and we all put in another
big 10 hours.
I
think we all had at least one dummy spit while building the
trap yard but all spits were ignored and gotten over within
a very short time.
Mission
accomplished - we did get the compound finished within the time
frame we had hoped (around five days).
Back
to Work
We
continued removing the old feeders and replacing them with a
new model. Still working long hot days we had to replace 15
feed stations. The old feed cages were very heavy and had to
be loaded onto the trailer and taken back and stored at base
camp.
The
feeders were being replaced because the Swamp Wallabies were
getting into them and eating the food left for the wombats,
as a matter of fact every evening when we went to do the feeds
the wallabies would be waiting and would get into the feeders
as soon as we left.
The
new feeders were better designed and had swinging trap doors.
It was assumed that as wombats are smarter than wallabies they
would learn to use the trap doors to access the food.
I
was very apprehensive about this working and did not see any
evidence of wombats using the feeders while we were at Epping.
However upon our return Alan sent me two photos showing the
wombats using the feeders.
Why
Supplementary Feeding?
Buffel
grass was introduced into Australia in 1860 from South Africa.
Graziers in central Queensland embraced the grass as it adapted
well to sandy soil, and survived well during drought.
In
Epping Forest the amount of Buffel grass has increased from
17% in the early 1970's to 54% today. Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombats
feed on at least 12 species of grass but since the introduction
of Buffel a lot of their natural diet has disappeared. Buffel
is also very prone to wildfires. Supplement feeding has been
introduced to give the Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombats a choice
of food in case wildfires do happen.
Other
Duties - Caretaking
As
well as doing all the building June and I still had to do all
of the caretaking duties. Filling the feeders and checking the
water every day, slashing the buffel and riding the quad around
the perimeter of the dingo fence checking for holes.
We
did have some light moments. Hair colouring for June to keep
up appearances and singing with Alan.
June
and I had to learn lots of new skills; driving quad bikes and
learning to drive slashers are just two examples. Even a simple
thing like filling machinery with fuel can become very involved
and time consuming.
After
the crew left, June and I had so many jobs lined up, we found
that we never had enough hours in the day.
While
doing a big clean up around the camp site we encountered a snake
just near the tool shed. We then decided that it's probably
not a good idea to go looking under too many things!
Sharing
Epping
The
diversity of Epping was something that June and I wondered at
every day; birds we had never seen before, the day we stumbled
upon a bower birds bower, the day I was slashing along the dingo
fence and disturbed some Fat Tailed Dunnarts. Brolgas, Emus,
masses of butterflies, unbelievable variety of little wrens,
reptiles.... Epping has it all.
We
felt like Alice in Wonderland discovering something new every
day.
Epping
has a large reference library that we took advantage of. Never
a day went past that did not find us with our noses in a book.
Bloody
Bushnell's
The
15 Bushnell cameras were the bane of my life. Some cameras were
fitted with D cell batteries and some were fitted with rechargeable
batteries. Neither system seemed to work too well.
Every
evening I would try to set a least one camera on every feed
station or burrow. I seemed to be for ever charging and replacing
the batteries and replacing the memory chips in the cameras.
Every morning I left camp at about 7am to remove the chips from
the cameras, come back to base camp, download the pictures to
the antiquated computer and see what exciting events had happened
overnight. All photos then had to be saved to a file. This very
important work is time-consuming and frustrating to the max....
but it must be done as it is the only way you get to see what's
really happening at Epping. It is a vital aspect of the science
of the whole project to maintain faultless records.
Our
Little Epping Adventure
During
our last week at Epping we had a little adventure.....
We
were on our way to the kangaroo trap yard, we had the trailer
attached to the quad bike and the trailer was full of water
and feed. June and I decided to take a different road, didn't
we!!
What
we found on this little journey was a very wet boggy area. We
had become quite confident on the "quaddy" by this
time... perhaps a little too confident and game. Cocky even!
Now, who can guess the outcome?
Yes,
we tried to drive through that area. It was just on dusk and
we were about 9 kilometers from base camp and, yes, we got the
bike and trailer bogged.
After
unhooking the trailer from the bike and with June pushing and
me driving and peals of laughter we got the bike out, left the
trailer in the bog and managed a muddy return to the base camp
that night.
Do
you think we learned out lesson??? The next day we brought my
four wheel drive and the bike back to try to retrieve the trailer.
After we managed to get the car bogged... June, once again,
had to push out this time it was the car!
After
being bitten by the biggest ants I have ever seen, being covered
in mud, laughing so hard we could hardly stand, we did manage
(after many hours of hard work) to get the care, the bike and
the trailer all to dry ground.
Shh
shh shh shh shh (secret wombat business - don't tell Alan!).
Leaving
Epping
It
seemed no time at all and our month was over and we were packing
up and showing the new caretakers the ropes.
Leaving
was so very difficult. We both wanted to go and both wanted
to stay. words like "torn" just don't quite sum up
how we felt - in fact I don't think there are any words which
describe it. Perhaps it is enough to say that it was very, very
hard to do.
So,
we reminded each other that we could always come back. Having
been outside the square there was other important work for us
to do back inside the square. We made a difference at Epping
and we can continue to make a difference back home, caring for
our orphaned Bare-Nosed Wombats.
So
off we went.
Stop
Off at Rocky
We
had arranged to meet Alan and Rinna at the Rockhampton Zoo to
look at the breeding program set up for the Southern Hairy-Nosed
Wombats.
Alan
introduced us to Tina and Peter who work at the zoo. They also
have a lot to do with the breeding program.
We
were also introduced to Wiggles, a Southern hairy-Nosed Wombat
raised by Tina and, again, were given the opportunity to cuddle
a great big lovely wombie, this time a Southern. We are blessed
to be among a handful of people who have cuddled a Northern
and a Southern AND a Bare-Nosed Wombat all in the same month.
The
Breeding Program
It
is well known that breeding wombats in captivity is extremely
difficult. A breeding program was set up at Rockhampton Zoo
in 2001 to try and breed Southern Hairy-Nosed Wombats.
So
far seven babies have been born at the zoo and if the same technique
is applied to the Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombats it is hoped that
they may also one day breed in captivity.
Going
to See Flashjacks
We
had a great day and were invited to go back to Tina and Peter's
place (just up the road) to spend the night with them. We had
a wonderful time, learning about how they are starting a breeding
program for Flashjacks, or the endangered Bridled Nailtail Wallabies.
"Just
up the road" in Queensland of course means: after traveling
for well over an hour we finally arrived. This extremely hard-working,
dedicated couple made us feel so welcome and showed us all their
plans and dreams for the Flashjacks... but that's another story
for another time.
Is
What They are Doing at Epping Forest Working?
In
a word, yes.
The
number of individuals is increasing slowly but surely, however
there is a very long way to go. Habitat needs to be expanded
- the whole "safe area" needs to be expanded, the
research program needs to be expanded, more funding needs to
be applied to the whole program.
Just
recently Alan and many others were featured on "Animal
Planet" documentary on American pay television titled "War
of the Wombats" which explored his work and the work of
some others around the country who are trying to save our wombats,
Hairy and Bare-Nosed alike. While there is still widespread
apathy and even some hostility in some parts of our own country
towards our native species, perhaps some international funding
might be forthcoming from documentaries such as that one.
Let's
hope so.
Would
We do it Again?
In
an instant!
Our
Epping Forest experience has changed our lives forever. We stepped
outside the square for just four weeks and stepped back into
our old squares more self-confident and totally different people.
We
feel that no challenge will ever be too big, no mountain too
high, no political fight too hard - we won't ever give in again.
We
learnt a raft of new skills and so did our dear hubbies!!!
Mind
you, Epping is not for everyone.
Not
everyone enjoys the experience of Epping, not everyone finds
or understands the joy of a close encounter with a Northern
Hairy-Nosed Wombats. Not everyone finds the "Epping Magic"
that June and I were so very lucky to find.
As
sure as god made little green apples, I will return to Epping
Forest National Park.
