Tiny Orphaned Wombat Teeters Between Life and Death

Wildlife rescuer Donna Stepan spends her time caring for wombats at the Sleepy Burrows Wombat Sanctuary in Gundaroo, near Canberra. She discovered a <a class="link" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://newswire.storyful.com/storylines/*/stories/122731?q=sleepy%20burrows">pinkie wombat</a> snuggled into its dead mother’s pouch, most likely hit by a car. Stepan believed the wombat could be only a few days old, after a gestation of 28 days.

Donna told Storyful: “The mother wombat’s pouch was not checked. This little wombat pinkie was compromised by maggots before somebody did check her dead mother’s pouch hours later. To be compromised at such a young age is the worst that can happen but at the sanctuary we will make sure she is warm and fed and if we can pull her through, my word I will. She is a two-hourly commitment with feeding at this size. It is the least we can do for her.”

This video shows the size of the wombat and the delicate feeding process. Credit: Facebook/Sleepy Burrows Wombat Sanctuar