He might have had a tough start to life, but Waldo the wombat is one lucky joey to have Nicole Sauer and the team from the Port Stephens Koala Hospital in his corner.
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On her day off, Nicole discovered Waldo alive in his dead mother's pouch at the side of a road at Wollombi in wine country.
"I was going to have an animal free day with my partner out at Cessnock. We saw the dead mother beside the road and I made him stop and check the pouch," Nicole said.,
"This time of year it's important with pretty much anything you see on the side of the road to check the pouch. While mum may have died the joey inside the pouch may be perfectly safe and healthy."
That was the case with Waldo who had just a couple of grazes. The six month old joey goes to work with Nicole at the Koala Hospital so he can have his feed every four hours.
"He requires a bottle every four hours. I get up during the night and give him his bottle and he has started to eat fresh grass," Nicole saidy "Just like babies he eats and he sleeps. He has a few runs at night, but generally he just sleeps.
"He comes with me to work and then I take him home. He has his own little wombat cot at home."
With Waldo being such a cutie, Nicole has readily found volunteers at the Koala Hospital to offer some respite including manager Georgie Cairns whose very happy children have been helping with his feeds.
In other news
Georgie said Waldo's story and that of two recently orphaned wallabies Ellie and William highlighted that the Koala Hospital's 24-hour rescue service applied to all wildlife, not just koalas.
"Pretty much if someone needs our help it doesn't matter whether it is a different organisation to us us or a member of the community if they ring our rescue line and as long as we can get someone there we will come and help," she said.
Ellie and William are two other success stories of rescue operations. Like Waldo the long-term plan is to release them back into the wild if it is safe to do so.
"Ellie was orphaned at Nelson Bay Golf Club. Dogs scared her mum and she fell out of the pouch," her carer Nicky Manning said.
"We waited a few hours to see if her mum would come back, but obviously she didn't so we brought her into care."
When she came in she was just five months old and weighed just 1.1kg at a recent weighing the 10 month old was 3kg.
Rescuing William was the newly formed Citizens Rescue Group at Brandy Hill's first job. It came just three days after they had done their induction.
The Port Stephen Koala Hospital 24-hour emergency number is 1800 775 625.
Michael Hartshorn
Since starting in 1985 at the then Melbourne Herald, journalism has taken me around Australia from Victoria, to the Northern Territory, Cairns in Queensland and now Port Stephens. After all those years there is still something special about informing and connecting with readers.
Since starting in 1985 at the then Melbourne Herald, journalism has taken me around Australia from Victoria, to the Northern Territory, Cairns in Queensland and now Port Stephens. After all those years there is still something special about informing and connecting with readers.
