Wombat Rescue and ACT Wildlife to use web data from public to track wombat population, combat mange

Volunteers from Wombat Rescue and ACT Wildlife will use information provided by the public to better gauge the size of the wombat population in Canberra and provide treatment to wombats with mange.

Once unwell wombats have been identified, carers install treatment flaps over burrows which are triggered to administer medicine when wombats enter, curing them of the debilitating disease.

President of ACT Wildlife Lindy Butcher said without the medicine mange was 100 per cent fatal for wombats.

"The tiny microscopic parasites burrow under the skin and they become blind and deaf. As a result of that they start feeding during the day to try to get enough energy, but eventually they die," Ms Butcher said.

Ms Butcher said wombats were all around the waterways in the ACT, as they liked to burrow close water.

"We don't actually know how many there are because there's never been an audit. This new portal will allow us to track them and look at the scope of the mange problem and from there we can formulate actions and treatments," she said.

Conservation Research geospatial data analyst Gee Fernando helped develop the technology which will allow the public to assist in mapping the territory's wombats.

He said people can could a photo or jot down a few notes when they came across a wombat in the ACT and upload the information at home.

Mr Fernando said a summarised version of all the data collected would be available online, while carers would have detailed data on which wombats received certain treatment - and where.

Wombat Rescue and ACT Wildlife carers have already begun helping wombats with mange, in addition to the care they provide to wombats injured and orphaned on Canberra roads.

Ms Butcher said there were currently 13 wombats in care after they successfully released three back into the wild last weekend.

She said the public could assist their efforts in caring for wildlife by checking pouches for babies if they hit a mother. Babies not much larger than 100 grams can be nursed to health in an incubator, Ms Butcher said.

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ACT Minister for the Environment Rebecca Vassarotti said until recently there hadn't been dedicated funding for community groups to help the plight of wombats in the ACT, which was why she was delighted to provide $30,000 funding in the 2021-22 ACT budget.

Ms Vassarotti said the online portal would form part of a broader wombat management strategy for the ACT, which aimed to maintain healthy and sustainable populations of wombats.

Ms Butcher said while there would always be conflict between some property owners and wildlife, in her view there was nothing as wonderful as a wombat.

"I think they're the most beautiful animals ever," Ms Butcher said.

"They're under-recognised in our wildlife, too. People think of Australia as just kangaroos and koalas, but there's also the wombat."

The new web portal can be accessed through the ACT government ArcGIS system.

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