Wombat Warriors on a mission

UPDATED: Tasmania’s army of wombat warriors is calling on the State Government to stop allowing landowners to shoot healthy animals as others battle a disease they fear could lead to the species’ extinction.

Spectators hold signs at the rally on Parliament Lawns. Picture: MATHEW FARRELL

TASMANIA’S army of wombat warriors is calling on the State Government to stop allowing landowners to shoot healthy animals as others battle a disease they fear could lead to the species’ extinction.

Hundreds of people rallied on Parliament Lawns in Hobart yesterday and a petition of more than 33,000 signatures was handed to Labor candidate for Lyons Darren Clark to give to Primary Industries Minister Jeremy Rockliff.

Wombat Rescue president Kim Rettig said a fundraising campaign was also under way to buy land on which to establish a wombat sanctuary to protect the species from “mange, roads and bullets”.

In 2016-2017, 34 permits to shoot wombats were issued to landowners. They say the cull is necessary to protect their crops and fences from damage.

Up to 50 wombats can be shot by each permit holder.

“Our wombats are suffering and dying in droves from the sarcoptic mange epidemic,” Ms Rettig said.

“Meanwhile, the Tasmanian Government continues to sanction the culling of healthy wombats to protect crops.”

The Tasmanian Greens yesterday released a policy saying the party would ban crop protection permits, establish wombat sanctuaries and provide $200,000 for more research into the disease, including transmission barriers at outbreak sites.

John Harris, of Wombat Warriors, and Wombat Rescue president Kim Rettig lead a rally on Parliament Lawns. Picture: MATHEW FARRELL

‘The Wombat’ joins the protest.

The State Government provided $100,000 earlier this year to help fund research into the mange epidemic, conduct population surveys and help volunteers who are treating wombats in the wild.

It also revoked three culling permits in the Kelso area where the wombat population has been particularly hard hit.

But Ms Rettig said more funding was needed to stop the wombat becoming endangered.

“We need to learn from the past. It is only a matter of time until wombats are pushed to the endangered list. Do we really want another native animal to become extinct on our watch,” she asked the rally.

Wombats with mange basically scratch themselves to death. They also lose their sight and hearing before they waste away.

The State Government said its long-term monitoring showed Tasmania’s statewide wombat population was not endangered.

A spokesman said DPIPWE had tightened the process to ensure a crop protection permit for wombats was only considered as a last resort.

John Harris, of Wombat Warriors, said the Government was “refusing to admit the scale of the problem”.

The once large wombat population at Narawntapu National Park, in Tasmania’s North, has suffered catastrophic losses and the tracking of infected wombats by volunteers shows the disease has spread across the state.

“The situation is desperate at Musselroe wind farm where 200 infected wombats are being treated across just five acres of that huge property,” Mr Harris said.

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