Vet Chris Brown’s wombat mission sets off alarm bells with fundraising site
It’s a condition killing Australia’s wombats at an alarming rate but when Dr Chris Brown’s tried to raise funds to fight the deadly disease, he hit a serious snag his fundraising site.
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Dr Chris Brown wears many hats — celebrity vet, television host and eligible bachelor are just a few. Now he can add suspected money launderer to the list.
The I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! host was raising money and awareness of a deadly disease plaguing Australia’s wombat population when the brakes were slammed on by the donation platform who suspected illegal activity.
More than $100,000 poured in for the cause in just 48 hours before it was put on hold and he was told by the Canadian-based host that they suspected something fishy.
“It’s a pretty elaborate money laundering scheme when you create a disease about wombats to lure money from people,” he laughed.
Brown, who created a GoFundMe page as a workaround so he could continue raising much needed funds, said the disease was “probably the least known yet most serious disease in Australian animals”.
Wombats across the country are dying at an alarming rate because of parasitic scabies mites that have found the perfect home on the native animals.
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The mites burrow under the wombat’s skin and cause an unbearable itch that the sharp-clawed barrel of fur can’t help but scratch uncontrollably.
This leads to open wounds that are invaded by bacteria and eventually kills them.
At a death rate of up to 99 per cent, Brown says this is a critical issue. He visited a community of wombats in northern Tasmania and treated 15 with mange, returning a year later to find just one had survived.
The nearby Narawntapu National Park used to be known as the ‘Serengeti of Tasmania’, a home to thousands of wombats and other wild animals. Now just three remain in the entire protected area.
“Everyone loves wombats, they’re one of our most adored animals yet for so long they’ve been suffering with this really awful and cruel disease,” Brown said.
Of the three species of wombat in Australia, two are afflicted by the disease.
There are fears if it were to invade the northern hairy nose in Queensland, which are already endangered, it would see them become extinct.
While there is currently no cure for the disease, there are ways it can be controlled. One such way is using flaps, usually a simple ice cream container lid, on the entrance to a wombat burrow which coats the back of the animal with an antibiotic.
The money Brown raises will be split between research, prevention and helping out the community of volunteers.
He said he was disappointed with a lack of government intervention in something that has such serious consequences.
“Governments haven’t really enacted upon it,” he says.
“I don’t know if they see it a bridge too far when they’re already stretched, especially in Tasmania where they have the facial tumour disease (afflicting the Tasmanian devil) and it might be that they’re almost afraid to take on what would be a huge issue.”
* Donate to Dr Chris’s cause: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-end-the-itch-for-wombats