wild animals

Steve Garlick, a professor in regional economics, and his wife, Rosemary, who is a general practitioner, spend a lot of their time going out to get injured Australian native animals and bring them back to their property. There they undertake comprehensive rehabilitation. They house the animals for a time and then release them.

Most of the animals - even the wombats - are pretty peaceful characters, but Denton Wombat was an exceptional character and this is a marvellous story. Don't let it prejudice you against wombats though! Read more about wombats here.

Not your typical wombat

Denton was never your typical wombat. Named because of all the dental work to fix a fractured jaw when his mother was killed by a motor vehicle, he was happiest sleeping in a red backpack. Initially this was alright but as he continued to grow this soon became impractical. ‘Attack’ was his mode of operation with anything that moved and several of us have the scars on our legs to prove it. He would get up on his hind legs and bring his teeth down into your flesh. He was impossible to outrun and he would knock our in-care kangaroo joeys over like nine pins given half a chance.

Denton takes the initiative

After being in care for 18 months and with spring in the air, Denton, now at 25kgs, had decided it was time to venture into the big bad outside world. We weren’t quite ready for this, we ordinarily release in-care orphaned wombats at around 30kgs and we had not yet found a suitable safe release area for him to go to where the conditions were right. But he was determined. Late one Saturday night he decided it was time to go. He found a weak spot in the corrugated iron wall of his enclosure, worked away at it and eventually clambered out.

Once the escape was discovered a full search was mobilised. After three days of looking there was a report of him being seen in a neighbour’s laundry. With reinforcements, sedation and a thick blanket a wrestling match ensued in the laundry with clothing being spread to the four winds. He was not a happy boy being captured and returned to his enclosure, which in the interim had been suitably reinforced with more iron, metal star pickets and huge boulders to prevent a recurrence of the escape.

Second escapade

Despite the repairs to the enclosure after a couple of days Denton escaped a second time discarding the iron, the pickets and the boulders like confetti. When a wombat makes his mind to go there is no changing it! Signs were put up "Missing Wombat (not friendly)" with the contact phone number. During the Sunday apart from searching for Denton we found several promising, hopefully unoccupied, burrows for him at his new release site. We stuffed the burrow entrances with newspaper to test whether the burrows were indeed still unoccupied after several days. Wombats can have up to six burrows spread around to use as escape hatches when needed.

Sightings of Denton

Various sightings of Denton were reported by neighbours on the Sunday but we always seemed to be 10 minutes behind him when we got there. One neighbour thought they had a burglar when all the shoes on their veranda went flying in all directions during the night. Convinced of their burglar theory they installed a closed circuit TV security system! I told them that it was highly unlikely a burglar would upset the orderly nature of their shoes and that it was more likely to be Denton. Another neighbour said he heard things being thrown around in his shed and when he went to investigate the wombat chased him around his house and then waddled down his driveway.

The search continued on Monday in all drain culverts and other likely wombat resting places. Per chance I thought I would look in our own drain culvert and fortunately there he was. By now it was getting dark and rain was threatening. I had a blanket in the car but no sedative. How would I get him by myself? Surprisingly he responded to my calling and he eventually emerged from the culvert. I threw the blanket over him and held him down - 25kg of writhing muscle. What to do now? With no sedation I wrapped him in the blanket and bundled him into the car and headed some distance up the hill to home. I left the car to get the sedation and because it was now quite dark left the engine running with the lights on. Not a good idea.

Denton at the wheel!

By now Denton had got himself out of the blanket and when I got back with the sedative he was pressing on the car's accelerator and the engine was revving loudly. While the gear was in neutral and the hand brake on it would have been easy for him to knock the gear shift into gear and set the car in motion. I could just imagine the car careering down the hill with Denton at the wheel! How would I explain that to the insurance people? Fortunately he didn't. Turning the engine off I didn't count on him leaning on the car horn continuously despite now being sedated. In fact he fell asleep leaning on the car horn. Fixing this up I let him sleep for a couple of hours until Rosemary arrived home to assist.

Options

Options. We could take him immediately to the release site however it was now quite late, he was too sedated, it was raining and we were still not sure the burrows we had identified were in fact unoccupied. So we decided to put him in one of our other, more secure, wombat enclosures for the night, but we would have to move the occupants (Osh and Gosh) out of their enclosure temporarily. This we did and Osh and Gosh obliged.

By this time Denton, despite being sedated, had made his way to the rear of the wagon so we took the opportunity of driving him to the now freed up more secure enclosure. Taking food into the enclosure for him, I fell into the newly dug trench for the next wombat enclosure we are building and got my foot stuck and couldn't get out. Meanwhile it was now pouring with rain and Denton was getting agitated in the car.

After some time we got Denton into the enclosure with a bag of fresh grass and got to bed ourselves at around 3.00am.

Property inspection

Next day we began plans to move Denton to the release site. When we entered his enclosure he dutifully came out, again in an angry mood (see picture at top of article). Another wrestling match ensued until we bundled him into the cage and the car for the 30 min trip to his new home. No dogs, no humans, good digging, water and other wombats. We positioned the cage near the entry to the burrow and opened the gate. We had expected Denton to just wander into the burrow and go to sleep. Not Denton. Never think you understand wombat behaviour. He went to the entrance of the burrow and came away and did this several times. He then chased Rosemary and I away and, as we watched from the safety of the car, he began to mark his territory in the usual way.

Still not convinced he would make the burrow his new home I tried to coax him into it by moving near to it. Denton thought this a great game and proceeded to chase me around and around the burrow until I was able to escape back to the safety of the car.

We will check on him over the next few days and give you some update reports and, hopefully some pictures in his new surroundings.

I can hear that collective intake of breath from wildlife warriors and carers all over Australia. Possums as pets? Wildlife as pets! Isn't it bad enough that humans mistreat dogs and cats, without encouraging them to imprison and malnourish possums and other wildlife? See also: "Living with humans - A possum responds to "Living with wild animals" article" and earlier episodes of Gloria O'Possum's adventures.

Breakfast at 6pm, delivered to my door by a friendly and tolerant human. Note that I can leave and enter the house anytime and I forage for my own food and sometimes sleep elsewhere. I am a free but friendly spirit.

Settle, gumnuts!

I wasn't talking about keeping us all locked up.

No. I was talking about sharing shelter - as I do with my giant human -.
I meant not locking us out of the Great Indoors which you humans have converted our forests into. I was talking about time-sharing possum boxes with the local population, hanging out together in the garden, growing native trees to attract us to your backyard, going on bushwalks together, singing at the moon together, playing with baby possums together and interacting with adults on a free and equal basis.

Baby possum and human interacting

Free to come and go, human and possum. I wasn't talking about locking us up, feeding us tinned 'possum-food' and 'science-diets', or taking us for a walk on a leash (Great Possum no!). I was talking about living and letting live and making friends.

Intolerance of different species is rife amongst Australians. Although the government preaches multiculturalism, possums and other wildlife are displaced and persecuted - even killed - by humans. Do humans really prefer dogs and cats to possums, quolls, devils and roos, or is it just because they have been discouraged from making a connection with Australian wildlife?

A lot of wildlife carers think that the government really wants to get rid of all of us native animals. The government is very unfriendly, calling us pests and taking away our natural habitat. A recent treasurer of Australia, Peter Costello, said that he wanted to get rid of all of us! What a horrible remark! He should have been locked up for hate crimes as well as for promoting greed and human overpopulation.

A lot of humans think it is illegal to keep Australian wildlife. Well, it IS illegal to lock some of us up without a license and, so it should be. The same applies to locking up humans - you also need a license. But it isn't illegal to interact with us and let us live on 'your' property. No policeman is going to come along and tell you that you mustn't address possums on your back fence, or feed them gum-flowers, or have them come in and out of your bedroom window and sleep in a possum box on the dresser. No policeman is going to come along and tell you that you may not encourage a long-necked turtle to live in your swimming pool or fish pond either, although you need to conform to certain specifications if you purchase a long-necked turtle.

You know who will try to tell you not to be friends with us? Your dog or your cat. They will try to kill us. These animals have been taken from their natural homes and they have brought a culture here that is anti-possum, just like many human settlers who were not born here or who grew up in a possum-less high-rise, or who have been so indoctrinated with Beatrix Potter animal stories that they are rabbit, dog and cat mad.

Okay, you love your dog and cat. But, when they die, please think about us possums and the rest of the indigenous animals. Don't get another dog or cat. As well as being naturally cute and funky, natural tightrope walkers and roof-dancers, we are so much more convenient. You don't have to desex us, you don't have to register us, you don't have to keep us inside all night or walk us on a leash. We are free to come and go - except where we are falsely persecuted in public places and by intolerant householders.

One of a tribe of possums at Catani gardens, St Kilda, harassed by the Council, falsely and persistently accused of spreading Fusarium wilt

Yes, a possum-human relationship can be an equal partnership. What's more, you can follow us into our world. Imagine, children, tree-climbing with friendly possums. The poor dog or cat - at best tolerated as immigrants - have no real citizenship. They are not allowed out and about without a human in tow. But the possum, the kangaroo, the long-necked turtle, the quoll - we are free as birds - or we would be - if there were not so many dogs, cats, and wildlife-phobic politicians out there.

Let's clear up this misunderstanding now.
You can buy possum-boxes at your local petshop. What's stopping you?

Politics of indoor and outdoor possums

I hear that there has been a bit of a kerfuffle in the candobetter possum camp - among the humans, that is - over whether I should be living outside or inside. For me, of course, there is no doubt. 'Inside', as humans refer to some of the bigger wooden hollows in Brisbane, is the normal place for possums. We don't live 'outside' by choice. We live in holes in wood, like humans. What did you imagine? That we sit under trees holding fig-leaves over our heads in torrential rain by choice? No, we possums have the same needs as humans. To paraphrase Shakespeare:

"I am a Possum. Hath not a Possum eyes? Hath not a Possum hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, heal'd by the same means, warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and summer, as a Human is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? [Try it some time!] If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, do we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that."

The only reason you may find us outdoors (except for nights of the full moon, singing) is because of the housing crisis in Australia, notably in Brisbane, where I was born and reside. I used to come to this place with my mother between 11pm and 2am and we would sit in the shelves in the kitchen, avoiding possum hoons outside. You can see us in a film about the housing crisis that shows me when I was little. Now I am living permanently in this very big old dead tree, made of finest extinct Brisbane Forest, with many superb hollows containing refrigerators, stoves, bookcases, baths, computers, with running water and food. My particular haunt is the comparatively small, snug hollow (known as the AWPC possum-box) behind the door of the hollow adjacent to the kitchen, where the backpack used to hang. The giant human I share with lives in a gigantic hollow at the front of the house. We rattle around here. Sure beats Vinny's clothing bins. I won't pretend that I didn't like that backpack - it reminded me of mum - but I do admit that the possum box is more durable and harder to get me out of. Best of all, the human who placed the possum box here, doesn't try to take it to work with him. We both got a shock when he tried to pack his lunch and novel to take to work the first time.

See more about that episode in "Living with Wild Animals"

For us possums it is obvious that humans know very little about us. That is the reason they are so intolerant. So I have taken it upon myself to write this educative blog.

Possum circuits and time-share arrangements

Some of you may be surprised to hear that the other night another possum slept in this box. Since I am not going to go into my private life, I will not tell you whether it was a male or a female possum, but I can tell you that it is quite normal for related female possums to live together, and for male possums to visit. It doesn't mean that this place is going to be inundated with possums. We are too territorial for that. (Although not as territorial as humans; most of you want the forest all to yourselves - although you call it 'inside'. Ha!) Male possums have a big circuit and visit a number of females and different possum quarters in their travels, for reasons which you may guess. They often sleep rough. Female possums have a smaller range of addresses and they prefer comfort and security. I felt secretly triumphant to realise that the human here, initially so keen to keep me 'outside' (it's unofficial about the small refugee population of possums, bats, rats and birds in the roof) was disappointed after I spent two nights in the possum box then didn't come home the next. Well, that's about my rhythm at the moment. Two nights in the box and the third night visiting relatives. There is a bit of a time-share arrangement among a wider circle with the possum box. I spent the last two nights here but I'll be sleeping in the ceiling of a kiosque in the Roma Street Gardens tomorrow, after dining off some of those rare fruits. We spread ourselves around. We are not the ones who ate all your roses; it's snails - because there aren't enough birds. Encourage birds and you will not have any big problems with snails. Only another two hours before the sun goes down here in the tropics, so I think I'll have another little nap. Hopefully there will be a bit of banana when I wake up. My mother started this project and it's taken years, but I think I have this human nearly trained.

Humans have moved into native animals' backyards yet many of us get upset when there is a possum in our roof and go to all ends to remove it by having it relocated. Some farmers even shoot these hapless animals that are only looking for somewhere to sleep during the day and something to eat. We have a responsibility to them because we caused this situation and it's possible to not only share our space but give back some habitat to them. Here's what happened to a friend of mine recently when a possum moved into his house..... See the sequel to this story.

Every time I talk to my friend, who lives in suburban Brisbane, he tells me of another encounter with a possum that happened in his house. Apparently there is a small part at the top of the window where this small possum can squeeze into. The first event was a loud crash and evidence of a microwave door window being smashed. The poor thing must have been sleeping in there! Lucky my friend didn't turn on the microwave...

Being an animal-lover, of course he had to offer the hungry creature some of his leftover birthday cake. After that, evening sortees into his house became more regular. I encouraged him to give the possum vegetable and fruit matter instead of highly processed food which could make a native animal sick in time.

The last encounter was yesterday when he went to get his haversack to take to work and who was sleeping inside but none other than Ms Possum. Unhappy to be woken from her snooze in such a nice dark, warm place obviously she would have been forced to find another dark warm spot to continue her rudely awakened and by this time much-needed sleep.

I suggested to my friend that he get a haversack especially for Ms Possum but then it occurred to me that a better solution would be to get a (available here possum house or simply make your own possum house
which is attached to a tree.That would be a nice dark location for the possum and its future offspring to sleep in by day. Perhaps position it in a shady spot so it won't be too hot in the summer. Possums should be encouraged to live outdoors and if they have a place to sleep and a food source there is no need for them to come into your house.

Relocating possums is not in the best interest of the possum. Possums are extremely territorial and if moved to another possum's territory may lose its life in a death struggle with the presiding possum.

Normally possums like to sleep in tree hollows but these are very rare and fiercely contended for by a variety of other animals. By providing a box for various native animals you will be allowing them to survive the damage wrought by tree felling over the years which has led to the destruction of their habitat.

Perhaps you could consider planting some trees in your backyard that it might like to climb in or some fruit trees. Possums feed on leaves, buds, flowers and fruits. Occasionally they eat insects, eggs, meat.

For those people who have orchards or vege gardens who object to possums eating the fruits of their labour, why not put a fence around the tree or the vege patch or at least part of it? The possums could at least have access to your compost pile. Possums come to my open, compost heap which is full of organic, unsprayed veges and fruit and must find something tasty in there.

Possums are native to Australia and therefore protected (which doesn't mean much in a country like Australia whose kangaroos are also 'protected'). However in NZ possums are regarded as 'pests' and number 70 million. They have no sympathy and are shot on sight by farmers.

Native animals have a right to live too. Without biodiversity we will all perish. Besides, possums can offer a pleasant diversion for people who live alone. Even though I live in the rainforest, the sound of the gutteral calls of the possum who comes around regularly at night and his funny way of running which reminds me of ladies in high heel shoes delicately prancing across my tin roof at top speed gives me pleasure.

There is something very satisfying about non-verbal interspecies communication. Fundamentally, we are all the same as all creatures seek happiness and avoid pain and suffering. Ultimately, nothing brings as much joy as helping provide another being its needs. For many native animals, their survival depends on our kindness, especially as they share our world.

Maybe the day will come when the lion will lay down with the lamb and man will no longer regard other creatures like kangaroos, possums, wombats and bats as pests but beings who share the planet with them in peace.

See the sequel to this story.