Assumptions
12 December 2010 13:04![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
denThis morning I had a phone call from a rescuer in a neighbouring rescue area.Apparently she'd been ringing around and my name was mentioned.
"You know a lot about echidnas, I hear."
"Well, yeah" I said. "I've raised a few." Gosh! Recognition!
"Then you'd know a fair bit about wombats."
The assumption confused the hell out of me. Echidnas = wombats? They are not even the same species, genus or family. They are both mammals, and that's about where the similarities end. Wombats are exceedingly uncommon around Dubbo. I've heard rumours of a small warren complex in the deep bush to the east, but never seen it, so my total exposure to wombats is meeting joeys in the care of others.
The only advice I could give her was:
-It was probably displaced from its burrow when the Talbragar River flooded
-It can probably defend itself against the home owner's maltese terriers, if it bothers to notice them
-The worst it would do is eat the lawn and maybe dig it up
-"You're absolutely right there. It won't eat the lady's chickens."
-BE CAREFUL. A grumpy wombat is a bad thing to encounter -- Remember Tunnel 17! -- and being killed by a wombat is the second most embarrassing way to die in Australia.
I hope she found an expert to talk to. I have no doubts the wombat will be okay; it's the people I worry for.
"You know a lot about echidnas, I hear."
"Well, yeah" I said. "I've raised a few." Gosh! Recognition!
"Then you'd know a fair bit about wombats."
The assumption confused the hell out of me. Echidnas = wombats? They are not even the same species, genus or family. They are both mammals, and that's about where the similarities end. Wombats are exceedingly uncommon around Dubbo. I've heard rumours of a small warren complex in the deep bush to the east, but never seen it, so my total exposure to wombats is meeting joeys in the care of others.
The only advice I could give her was:
-It was probably displaced from its burrow when the Talbragar River flooded
-It can probably defend itself against the home owner's maltese terriers, if it bothers to notice them
-The worst it would do is eat the lawn and maybe dig it up
-"You're absolutely right there. It won't eat the lady's chickens."
-BE CAREFUL. A grumpy wombat is a bad thing to encounter -- Remember Tunnel 17! -- and being killed by a wombat is the second most embarrassing way to die in Australia.
I hope she found an expert to talk to. I have no doubts the wombat will be okay; it's the people I worry for.