✨ WILLOW’S GLOW-UP ✨
Willow is a wild #wombat living on Darkinjung Country.
🌤 As the sun sets, she emerges from her underground burrow, and spends her evenings munching on grass. Along the way, she’ll spread native seeds, aerate the soil by digging, and boop the snoots of her wombat neighbours (Wilma included).
This is how life as a wombat should be. Simple, and full of grass. 🌱
But it wasn’t always like this.
I first met Willow in July of 2022. She had a severe case of mange - an INTRODUCED disease that is FATAL for wombats.
😭 She was losing hair, and was almost deaf and blind from scabs covering her face. She was itching herself to death, and had only a few weeks left to live.
That was a long night. I crept through the bush in pitch black - listening for the sound of munching on the wind. My big red net kept getting tangled in vines. I kept almost stepping on bandicoots. These are not ideal conditions for sneaking up on an animal that has sharp teeth. 😬
Eventually, I managed to launch a sneak attack on little Willow, and apply the first of her weekly mange treatments. Watch until the end to see the difference that just a few weeks can make.
💜 Today, Willow is 100% mange free. Her hair, vision, and hearing is back. The glow-up is real.
Since recovering from #mange, Willow has resumed her nightly routine, and continues to boop snoots (amongst other things 🤭) with the other wombats in the Hawkesbury.
Here’s to the next generation of happy, healthy, mange-free wombats.
Yay Willow.
Crumpet is a wild wombat with a deadly disease.
He’s one of 35 wombats that I treated for mange last year. And no, it doesn’t just involve a quick netting and a spray of antiseptic.
💜 Treating a #wombat for #mange is tough. You have to pour medicine on their back once a week, for as many weeks as it takes for them to be cured.
Anything less, and the parasites under the wombat’s skin will continue to multiply, and practically eat them alive. 🦠
To make sure Crumpet got his weekly dose, I spent hours monitoring him. Using infrared cameras, I pieced together his home range, and the exact underground burrow that he was living in. Then, I either ambushed him (with my big red net), or used burrow flaps to passively apply treatment.
🤯 Over this time, Crumpet became something of an internet legend. Thousands of people voted to give him his silly name - and the entire fiasco ended up on the news in NEW YORK CITY.
Meanwhile, Crumpet, ever the introvert, just carried on being Crumpet.
He refused to take interviews, resisted the urge to start an OnlyFans, and instead focused on his one true passion. Grass. 🌱
As you can see at the end of this reel, munching on grass while bathing in the sunshine of the Hawkesbury is Crumpet’s happy place. And I think it’s mine too.
If you need us - look for a grassy patch about 2 hours north of Sydney.
Xoxo wombat guy
🎥 Sony FX6 w/ Sigma Art 24-70 2.8
📍 Dharug and Darkinjung Land
👟 @converse (sponsorship? Jk… 😳 Unless)
Meet Ellie. She likes to pretend to be a rock. 👋
When #wombats have mange, they become blind, deaf, and weak. Ellie is too tired and confused to defend her home range, so she’s been pushed out into a very scary place. 😭
This property has no burrows, no shelter, and a road running right through the middle of it. Because there’s nowhere to hide from hairy men in shorts - her last resort is to pretend to be a rock, and hope that I don’t see her.
Without treatment - Ellie will die here.
🩳 Luckily, the landowners reported Ellie to me, detailing the exact time of day and place that they saw her. Not long after, I rocked up with my shortest shorts and green woolies bag to start her treatment for #mange.
Then, I caught up with her at least once a week to check her wounds and make sure she was safe.
Within a month, Ellie had returned to nocturnal behaviour, and toddled back over to her usual home range - a place filled with cozy underground burrows and luscious native grasses. 🌱
💜 By now, Ellie is totally mange free. Yay Ellie.
Overdevelopment makes life very hard for a wombat suffering from an INTRODUCED parasite like mange. More houses mean less safe spaces.
I have a dream of making my own wombat reserve one day - a place where my friends can roam without the threats of mange, bulldozers, or humans in general.
And rest assured, Ellie will be the first on the guest list 💅
Thank you for helping me make a bright future for my local wombats.
🎥 Sony FX6 w/ Sigma Art 24-70 2.8
📍 Dharug and Darkinjung Land
👜 @woolworths (sponsorship? Jk… 😳 Unless)
Say g'day to Frank. She (yes, she) is a real trooper.
The crusts you can see all over Frank are from a disease called mange. Without treatment, it is 100% fatal for wombats.
A concerned landowner had seen Frank out during the daytime, shuffling about like a zombie. Classic signs of mange.
After dubbing this wombat with the fitting title of "Frank", they reported her to WIRES, and I instantly got a ping on my phone.
We arrived just before dusk with a car packed with all the essentials for a wombat wrangle:
✅ Mange medicine
✅ A big red net (red ones go faster)
✅ Chicken noodle soup (fuel)
After a quick catch and release to apply the meds, Frank trotted off into the microlaena grasslands of Yengo NP, and resumed munching.
Two weeks later, all of Frank's scabs had fallen off, and she was back to her nocturnal habits.
By now, she'll be totally mange free. Yay 💖
The suffering of a #wombat with mange is unimaginable. They are literally being eaten alive by tiny parasites, as they slowly lose their hair, hearing, and vision.
Their pizzazz takes a nasty hit too.
Yet somewhow, against all these odds, they simply carry on.
Taxes and relationship drama pale in comparison to what these little creatures go through every day. When times get tough, wombats like Frank give me strength. I hope they can do the same for you.
Let's hear it for Frank the girlboss 💅💅
📍 Darkinjung & Dharug Land
📽 Sony #FX6, 24-105 f4, Cine EI @ 800iso
