Bye Bye Wombat Ben

There was a farewell here at Onemilebridge yesterday. One we approached happily and, might I say, with relief.

Wombat Ben has been released into the bush. His stay in the Wombat Hilton was a short one — possibly a record.

When he arrived he was already a good size — about 15 kg — so the only tasks he had to achieve were to separate from his human carers and to allow his natural tendencies to come to the fore.

Well, he accomplished both those lickety split. He fled from us any time we approached; he preferred to eat the native grasses we picked for him rather than the oats and horse mix in his food bowl; and he rearranged his environment as assiduously as a backyard blitz team with a backhoe and an open cheque book. I reckon if he'd stayed any longer he'd have tunnelled or broken his way out anyway. You can see daylight through the gateposts now!

There was wombat poo outside the gate too, and evidence of a wombat trying to get into the enclosure. Maybe a groupie for what my commenter Judith calls our rockstar wombat.

                                        

We tied up the 'wombat flap' in the gate so Ben could find it easily. In the coming days we'll untie it but leave it unlatched so he can come and go if he wishes. We'll leave food in the bowl, but my guess is that possums will get that.

 I think we've seen the last of Wombat Ben. We wish him a long, happy life in the bush.