Rescue
Wombat found dead on side of road turns out to have baby inside her pouch that rescuers able to save
She's grown tremendously since being rescued.
Morgan Slimak
07.17.20

Wombats aren’t typically the type of animal that people think of as pets. However, when rescuers first stumbled upon Elsie, an orphaned-baby wombat in Canberra, Australia, they immediately knew they had to bring her home.

What followed next was a miraculous story of recovery and love.

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It all began back in March of this year.

An individual discovered Elsie in the pouch of her deceased mother along the side of the road. The baby wombat was scared, alone, and didn’t know what to do. They estimated that she was about three months old and was not able to fend for herself.

At the time, she only weighed 120 grams and hadn’t even started to grow fur yet. Luckily, Canberra’s wildlife care group, ACT Wildlife quickly came to the rescue.

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They slowly nursed her to good health and kept her warm in an incubator.

Over the next several weeks, she continued to grow.

“Elsie is sleeping after her bottle. Actually she sleeps all the time😂 But she looks so cute here. She is up to 155 gm now. Yay!” writes the rescuer.

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One of our favorite parts about Elsie is definitely her smile.

She might have missed her mom and the other wombats in her family dearly after being rescued, however, ACT Wildlife made sure to give her plenty of love to cheer her up.

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For the first month or so, Elsie was tiny enough to fit in the palm of the workers’ hands.

She slept all of the time in order to regain her strength.

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Within a month of being taken care of, she grew to over double her original size.

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However, Elsie’s growth spurt didn’t stop there.

Little by little, she grew into a big and strong adult wombat.

“This is the first time I’ve held Elsie without her wrapping. Her tiny body is warm and soft. She’s close to 300 gms now,” writes the rescuer.

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ACT Wildlife knows exactly what to do to keep wombats healthy.

Over the years, they have rescued tons of them. For example, these two wombats named Duggie and Honey began as babies at the facility. They now weight over eight kilograms each.

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Elsie, on the other hand, found a new home after only being in ACT Wildlife’s care for three months.

She was six months old in total when a kind-hearted woman named Helen took her in.

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The plan now is to continue to nurture Elsie until she is old enough to take care of herself.

Then she will be released back into the wild to live out the rest of her years on her own.

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Baby wombats, also called joeys, typically remain in their mothers’ pouches for at least six to eight months of age.

They become fully grown adults once they are around two years old. It is likely that Elsie will remain in Helen’s care until then. However, that doesn’t mean that ACT Wildlife volunteers can’t still go and visit her every once and a while to say hello.

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She is one of the most lovable wombats that the organization has ever rescued. The passerby who first came across Elsie in her deceased mother’s pouch saved her life that day.

Losing her mother was an unfortunate start for the baby wombat, however, things have definitely turned around for her now. Thanks to ACT Wildlife, Elsie now has a long and healthy life ahead of her.

See more videos of Elsie, the orphaned baby wombat, below.

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Article Sources:
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Source: crazy_wombat_lady / ACT Wildlife

Source: Animal Fact Guide

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