Bulletin 28 - The Wombat Protection Society of Australia
Transcription
Bulletin 28 - The Wombat Protection Society of Australia
Wombat Protection Society of Australia Bulletin 28 February 2010 P.O. Box 6045 N.S.W. 2550 [email protected] Welcome to Bulletin 28 The Society receives some really interesting and heartwarming letters from members and people interested in wombats. Often they get sent off to whoever is managing the particular issue being discussed- the mange co-odinators if mange is being asked about, the various volunteer vets and animals experts when an illness is being discussed..so often the interesting reflections of people working at the burrow front aren't shared. In recogniition of our members and their concerns for wombats this bulletin gives “voice” to a number and variety of members letters. CHARLEY, the Peter Pan Wombat We’re writing this letter in the hope that someone will have encountered a similar problem in a human-raised wombat before. And if not that, then we think we should document Charley’s journey publicly and regularly so that it stands as stimulus for learning. If it has happened to a wombat carer once, it stands to reason it has already happened before, or will again. We’ve been raising wombats for several years now, on our property near Jenolan Caves in NSW. Charley is number eight of nine. We’ve lost three, one to attack by animal unknown (after release), one to a catastrophic bowell event (about 7 months old), and one to snake bite at twelve months. The rest have been successfully soft-released onto our property. We see them frequently, but they seem to be living successful wild lives (except when feeling a bit sooky). Three months after finding Charley another little male (Nicky) was brought to us who would probably have been about a month older than Charley, based on developmental evidence. Nicky was to have been the ideal buddy for Charley. We’ve been lucky enough to have been able to raise most of our babies in pairs, and one threesome, who all went out into the wild together. 1 Wombat Protection Society of Australia Bulletin 28 February 2010 P.O. Box 6045 N.S.W. 2550 [email protected] Charley was rescued from his mother’s pouch on Sunday 7th June 2009. He was still attached to the teat and had no hair whatsoever. He weighed 290gms and appeared to have no injuries. It took some time to get him to take a bottle, as it has done with all but one little glutton we’ve raised, but he appeared to settle down to Divetelact quite well, taking about 50 mls a day. He put on the weight he initially lost fairly quickly and was 340 gms after a month.. He was also successfully treated for oral thrush with Nilstat. He was taken to a vet but no worms or other health problems were found. He still had no hair at all. Over the next three months Charley progressed regularly if slowly…8/08/200 - 500grms: 05/09/2009 – 780gms; 03/10/2009 – 910gms. At the end of October Nicky weighed 4.3 kgs. Charley was beginning to get some very fine fluff on his head that was and still is not typical of wombat hair. A fully furred wombat baby looks like a small adult wombat in terms of fur. Charley’s hair was making him look like a little tiny Einstein. It stands on end when first through. Over summer so far we’ve had some horribly hot weather, and in the heat neither baby is much interested in his bottle until the cool of the evening. Nicky is a normal, active, baby wombat, so much bigger and stronger than Charley that there is no way they can be buddies. They have adjoining playpens, but we can’t let them be together because Nicky is so much bigger and stronger.Charley seems too fragile to be a proper participant in happy hour play. Becoming increasingly concerned about his lack of weight gain and general peculiar appearance we returned to the vet, who found no obvious problems. She suggested it could be a case of a malfunctioning pituitary gland and that Charley may never grow normally. We have asked if we could have a test, only to have the obvious problem pointed out to us that there is no chart of normal pituitary readings for wombats that we could compare Charley’s reading to. It also appears to be fairly expensive to have done. Then comes the question of what will 2 Wombat Protection Society of Australia Bulletin 28 February 2010 P.O. Box 6045 N.S.W. 2550 [email protected] we do about it if he is found to have a pituitary, or other glandular, problem? Do we give him growth hormones? We wpould have all sorts of concerns with that. The vet feels that this sort of thing probably happens more frequently than we know. The baby would normally not make it through the first winter in the wild and would be ejected from the pouch. It was suggested that he should be weaned, or at least placed on a different milk substitute. Nicky was already on solids, so we let Charley start on rolled oats and sweet potato as well, and we switched him to Womberoo.® No real gain has so far come of this change, except that he is now much less willing to have his bottle at all. He is back to taking about 50 mls a day, and that only if you walk the floor with him while he drinks! Weights at this point were 7/11/2009 –1.12kgms, 5/12/2009 – 1.35gms. Abnormally hot weather has interfered with the appetite of both boys. Charley’s weight for December has remained static.Nicky weighs 6.01 kgs .Charley weighs 1.36 kgms. Bear in mind that there cannot be more than a month’s difference in chronological age between these two, unless Charley’s lack of growth began in the pouch, before he came to us, and he is actually even older than Nicky. Charley is a happy but distinctly peculiar little wombat. His fur, what there is of it (it is very sparse still, especially across his hindquarters) is very soft and about 5mm long. His movements are fragile and somewhat shaky, a bit like the first attempts at play of a normal baby wombat. But Charley is at least 11 months old now. Although his movements look fragile, he has a lot of fun and is a very happy, alert and inquisitive little person. He is delighted when he is picked up, loves kisses on his nose, bites like the dickens whenever possible and snuggles into the sleeve of my jacket. He doesn’t vocalize, but nor does Nicky, and nor did Sam, the older male we raised. We’ve noticed that the females we’ve raised vocalize more than the males, and even after release still call to us. Has anyone else noticed this, or have we just had very shy boys? Charley’s feet are still pink soled, while Nicky’s are quite dark now. His nose is dark, but was actually half dark when we found him. Both sets of incisors are well developed (!) but molars are only just staring to develop. What can become of Charley? The vet suggests that he will never be able to be released. Certainly if he remains as far behind the growth curves as he presently is, there’s no way he could compete as a male in a forest area fairly densely populated by wild wombats. Then can he be kept, like a toy 3 Wombat Protection Society of Australia Bulletin 28 February 2010 P.O. Box 6045 N.S.W. 2550 [email protected] dog breed, in the house? Will he develop sexually? If so, how does a male wombat, no matter how small, get on with his human family in a house forever? He is so small now that he can be held in one hand and trodden on with alarming ease. Should he be caged for the rest of his life? That is probably what would have to happen, and even though we plan to build him a beautiful bachelor pad, it is not the ideal wombat future we envisage for all our babies. He will be lonely. The only other option is to euthanase him, and that is totally abhorrent to us by this time. As long as he is happy and well we cannot justify that action. Then we have to consider that whatever is retarding his development might also be causing other health problems to be revealed as he matures…I nearly said "grows"…Charley doesn’t do growing! As you can see, we need some advice and some expert opinions. We are sending copies of this letter to the various zoos and wildlife vets, in the hope that someone might be interested in learning a bit more about wombats from one who went wrong, so to speak. In the absence of further advice we are about to try both boys on a porridge made from rolled oats cooked in Divet, and sweetened with some Manuka honey to up the calorie count. We would be happy to keep readers up to date with our little "Peter Pan" Charley, either in this format or by private email. There must be something we can learn from this strange little fellow. 7000 6000 5000 4000 Charley Nicky Matilda 3000 2000 1000 0 August June December October We have plotted Charley's development (green) against Nicky's (Blue) and that of another wombat for whom we had growth data, Matilda. Matilda was of a similar size to Charley when she came into care. David received some interesting replies to his letter and we include 4 Wombat Protection Society of Australia Bulletin 28 February 2010 P.O. Box 6045 N.S.W. 2550 [email protected] two of these. “ What you have described is consistent with pituitary dwarfism. You can look up any medical text to read up on the condition which commonly occurs in people and animals. I do not think that treatment is practical or cost effective. However, to look on the bright side one of the problems with wombats is that they become a bit large to make convenient pets. If you end up with a pocket rocket then you are in luck in so far as Charley will be more manageable as a pet. I agree with you that release back into a wild situation would probably be nothing more than a death sentence. If not pituitary dwarfism then your next best probability would be malnutrition. This could be either due to the milk substitute you are using being unsatisfactory, or the actual volume of milk consumed to be insufficient for normal growth or some abnormality related to Charley's gut. You may wish to increase the volume of feeds by force feeding with a stomach tube. If you go this route then beware of overloading Charley's stomach - you will see colicky pain like reproach in his eyes if you do. Also Charley will probably hate the procedure but spare the stomach tube and spoil the child. Dog or cat urinary catheters make good stomach tubes. Pass the tube nasally,palpate it in the oesophagus and use a syringe to inject the milk formulae down the tube. Good luck. If not malnutrition then you may be looking at chronic disease involving various body organs.No real problem in identifying abnormalities if you have a Rockefeller type bank account to pay for umpteen dozen tests. Not a recommended route.” Mike Another reply David received about the possible causes for Charley's small ;stature “I have seen this happen before and previously considered two possible causes. First, in both instances the juvenile animals were found on the Brown Mountain escarpment east of Nimmitabel. Both were unfurred but had pigmentation suggesting subcutaneous fur growth. In both cases the adult female wombats involved had sustained violent, fatal injuries. Both of the juveniles were still attached to the nipples of the dead mothers. My thoughts after watching them subsequently develop was that this might have involved an underlying genetically-determined alopecia, perhaps localised to this particular region. Or second, the violence of the traumas involved in the mothers' deaths and the fact that the juveniles were still attached to the 5 Wombat Protection Society of Australia Bulletin 28 February 2010 P.O. Box 6045 N.S.W. 2550 [email protected] nipple may have led to simultaneous trauma in the juveniles. A possible trigger for their developmental abnormalities could be some underlying brain trauma that effected developmental growth of the pituitary gland which limited androgenic development. This could have happened as a result of a whiplash-like reaction that involved hyperextension of the cranium. Despite their peculiar features, both juveniles went on to become adult size. One was treated intramuscularly with stanabolic (an anabolic manufactured in Australia by Ilium). This animal, a female, developed unusual behavioural traits suggestive of possibly abnormal gonadal development and hyperaggression. Only minor follicular development occurred and treatment was ceased. Not sure if this helps, but it's my only experience with wombats exhibiting symptoms of this kind.” Brett Animal Justice Party http://animaljusticeparty.org A group in N.S.W. is atempting to establish a political party called the Animal Justice Party. "Over the coming months we aim to establish the AJP as a means to pursue issues of animal protection through the Australian Parliamentary System by encouraging the adoption of animal friendly policies by other political parties, demonstrating that voters care about animal issues by contesting elections, and educating the electorate about the animal policies of candidates from other political parties. One of our Directors answered a query from another member about the group working on this ; “I know some of the people who are starting up the Animal Justice Party, they are all dedicated wildlife carers or people who feel deeply about our wildlife, these people are well educated & are already very into the political arena. NSW needs a group that can stand up against the shooters Party who now have 3 members of parliament & who received 3 million dollars government funding last year, the Shooters Party are the same people who are pressing the NSW State government to allow shooting in national parks & not just feral animals but Kangaroos, 6 Wombat Protection Society of Australia Bulletin 28 February 2010 P.O. Box 6045 N.S.W. 2550 [email protected] birds, ducks and anything that moves. I have joined the party & will be encouraging all my wildlife friends to do the same. The wildlife of NSW (and Australia) do need a political voice. Shirley Lack N.S.W. Road Kill Mitigation Researcher Needs Help Natalie Crook from University of New England is studying wombat road kill. Those of you who live in wombat areas will be aware that an horrific toll is taken on generally very healthy wombats by cars and trucks. Natalie wants to gather data on wombat mortality due to road kill based on: Date, Location, Sex and any comments. She explained that “this will allow me to compare it with my dataset and I can compare my study site to other areas around NSW.” To help Natalie we created a wombat road deaths google map . Members who have information about any particular area in N.S.W. can enter data on this map. Contact [email protected] to be entered as a collaborator. For further information on Natalie's research; [email protected] Papers In Press This paper has been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but is still in production. It has not been edited or formatted, so may differ from the final published form. Using camera-trap data to model habitat use by bare - nosed wombats (Vombatus ursinus) and cattle (Bos taurus) in a southeastern Australian agricultural riparian ecosystem Philip Borchard, Ian Wright Abstract Bare-nosed wombats (Vombatus ursinus) are an often important south east Australian agricultural riparian species which may improve riparian landscape heterogeneity via their burrowing activity. At the same time they are often accused of causing soil erosion. As populations of wombats in other landscapes are under threat due to habitat disturbance, road mortality and disease, knowledge of the factors determining their use of riparian systems are important for their conservation and management. Since the European colonization of Australia, riparian areas have been utilized by domestic cattle (Bos taurus) usually resulting in a decline in biodiversity. Camera - trap data was used to investigate the habitat use by wombats and cattle in remnant Eastern Riverine Forests. A total of 664 detections of animals from 13 species were made over 7 Wombat Protection Society of Australia Bulletin 28 February 2010 P.O. Box 6045 N.S.W. 2550 [email protected] the entire riparian zone survey. Wombats were the most detected species, followed by cattle then foxes and cats. Wombat and cattle activity varied significantly through the diurnal cycle with wombats active from 1900 h to 0700 h and cattle active from 0700 h to 1900 h. There were no seasonal effects relating to the detection of either species. Feral species such as foxes, cats and rabbits were more frequently detected at sites highly disturbed by cattle. Results of this study illustrate the potential of camera - trapping for modelling habitat use by wombats and cattle and providing guidelines for the management of feral animals in remnant agricultural riparian habitats. http://www.publish.csiro.au/view/journals/dsp_journals_pip_ab stract.cfm?nid=257&ver=2&pip=AM09010 One of our members has been trialing a remote camera specifically for identifying individual wombats and is working on issues related to wombat burrow use. A full report will be available in the next Bulletin. They have already used the camera successfully to tell whether burrows are used or empty, the time wombats are passing through particular areas and to prove rabbits and lyrebirds, not wombats were responsible for holes in lawns. In addition they hope to demonstrate such cameras can be used to monitor the health of wombats in areas where mange is present.The Society is hoping to purchase a number of these cameras (cost approximately $500.00) for members to use. Initially we will encourage groups to raise enough money to donate to the society (a tax deduction is therefore available to groups or individuals) who will be given a camera for their use. Another member, David Barratt is experimenting with micro cameras to use as remote monitors in bushland settings which feed back to in house video recording systems.While this is already available it is very costly and David's intent is to develop a multiple monitoring system coverning numerous sites for under $500.00 simple enough for non technical folk to set up and install. Wildlife Survey The N.SW. Department of Environment and Climate Change has an on line survey covering numerous Australia animals including wombats. For people wising to complete the survey go to www.environment.nsw.au/surveys/StatewideWildlifeSurvey 8 Wombat Protection Society of Australia Bulletin 28 February 2010 P.O. Box 6045 N.S.W. 2550 [email protected] In Bulletin 26 we heard from Tony Hastings, resident naturalist at Manna Park on the Far South Coast of N.S.W.. Late last year Tony contacted the Society and started treating one particular wombat with Cydectin following a period of trialing Paramectin alone. (see Bulletin 26 for full story) Early September 09 20th and 25th September 5th January 2010 and YES, it is the same wombat! Colour differences due to light. 9 Wombat Protection Society of Australia Bulletin 28 February 2010 P.O. Box 6045 N.S.W. 2550 [email protected] It was also lovely to hear from Dailin and Chantelle's grandmother who joined the Society last year. They sent anther donation telling us our “wombat money tin” is full again so we are sending you its contents. We also found an extensive article on Wombats in (an Australian) Geographic magazine, so we have read it and placed it in our Wombat file”. L. Grose. Western Australia. Charlie Schroeder and family also joined last year writing “ my partner is a wildlife carer and we live in the Omeo Swifts Creek region of Victoria, where we have a problem in the wild wombat population. Many are badly infested with Sarcoptic Mange.” Charlie describes the frustration of rearing and releasing a wombat “ only to find that he contracted mange”. They have decided to try and “clean up the problem in the local wombat population” so we can “ safely return our rescued and orphan babies to their wild heritage”. Charlie Schroeder . Victoria. The Society has again begun mapping mange reports for 2010 and begun a new google map for this purpose as the previous one, covering 2006-2009 was getting a bit full. These maps can be collated so patterns over years can still be seen. Please contact [email protected] to report sightings of mange and if you would like to become a collaborator and enter mange sightings on this map this can be arranged. Australian Animal Welfare Strategy The Australian Federal Government is developing an animal welfare strategy which covers all animals. It has been “developed to provide the national and international communities with an appreciation of animal welfare arrangements in Australia and to otline future directions in Animal Welfare. This will be known as the AAWS and yu can download copies of the paper from [email protected] or write to G.P.O. Box 858 Canberra ACT 2601. “The strategy covers the care, uses and direct and indirect impacts of human activity on all sentient species of animals in Australia”. The strategy includes native animals. 10 Wombat Protection Society of Australia Bulletin 28 February 2010 P.O. Box 6045 N.S.W. 2550 [email protected] Audit and AGM As a Public Company and registered charity,the Society undergoes a full audit each year. We thank Kothes, the Society's auditors for the following report. The AGM will be held on Sunday March 14th 2010. 11 Wombat Protection Society of Australia Bulletin 28 February 2010 P.O. Box 6045 N.S.W. 2550 [email protected] 12 Wombat Protection Society of Australia Bulletin 28 February 2010 P.O. Box 6045 N.S.W. 2550 [email protected] 13 Wombat Protection Society of Australia Bulletin 28 February 2010 P.O. Box 6045 N.S.W. 2550 [email protected] 14 Wombat Protection Society of Australia Bulletin 28 February 2010 P.O. Box 6045 N.S.W. 2550 [email protected] 15 Wombat Protection Society of Australia Bulletin 28 February 2010 P.O. Box 6045 N.S.W. 2550 [email protected] MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL FINAL REMINDER Would all members please note that your membership needs to be renewed if you intend to vote on any matter at the AGM. Thank-you to all those members who have renewed and particularly to those who have updated their contact details. If you usually receive your bulletins by email and are receiving this one via post, it is because we have had your email returned.Would you please complete the last page of the Bulletin indicating any changes to your contact details.Thanks. The AGM will be held on March 14th 2010 so please ensure your details are up to date. Your membership and continued support is vital and demonstrates concern and interest across a wide range of areas. Your membership allows the Society to continue as a Charity, which means we can use donations to directly help wombats.It means groups wanting to gain funding to help wombats can do so using the Society as an auspice. It means individual carers and sanctuaries can gain a donor base to assist in their work. As a member, You have been instrumental in helping us help wombats, particularly by providing mange treatment kits to people who have been willing and able to treat wombats for mange. You have, through your membership allowed concerns about the culling of wombats and habitat loss to be discussed at various levels of government. You have also allowed and some of you have been directly involved in providing information and advice about wombats, to many hundreds of people, whether the school child wanting to know something for a project, or the landholder wanting to know how to manage fences and wombats. The Society's philosophy continues to be to work to resolve problems and to educate about wombats, to help individual wombats and wombats as a species and to support those who do. So feel proud of what your membership and support has achieved, and continue to be one of the "us" in helping us help wombats. 16 Wombat Protection Society of Australia Bulletin 28 February 2010 P.O. Box 6045 N.S.W. 2550 [email protected] Membership Renewal Would all members please ensure their membership is up to date prior to the Annual General Meeting scheduled for March 2010. It would be helpful if members complete and return the information below so the Society's records can be updated. Name(s) ______________________________________________________ Address _______________________________________________________ Email Address __________________________________________________ Telephone Number(s) ____________________________________________ Birth DAY and MONTH (for cards, optional)____________________________ Would you be interested in assisting the work of the Society? Please indicate whether you are interested in any of the following ways of helping and add any others you may be able to do; __Editing Newsletters __Making telephone calls __Giving advice to members of the public re wombats __Being a contact on our get help for wombats program __Becoming a member of the board __Undertaking a role such as secretary, public officer, accounting __Making up mange prevention kits __Undertaking internet research __Project liason (connects you to a particular project) Other; Membership fees for 2010 are $20.00 per year per adult by email contact and $25.00 for snail mail, $10.00 and $15.00 respectively for children and $30.00 and $35.00 for families. Cheques should be made out to the Wombat Protection Society, direct deposits to the Operating Account can be made ; BSB 802124 account 77328 Wombat Protection Society of Australia. Pay Pal deposits can be made on site www.wombatprotection.org.au. Please ensure if you are using pay pal or direct deposit that you indicate who you are and what your deposit is for. Members who joined in 2009 do not need to renew until 2011. Hon. members and Directors do not need to renew but please upate your contact details if these have changed. Not a member yet? You can complete this form and become one. Indicate below if you are newly joining. New Member ________ 17 Wombat Protection Society of Australia Bulletin 28 February 2010 P.O. Box 6045 N.S.W. 2550 [email protected] 18