20 May The Evacuation of Winston & Hugo
On the 16/11/19 at 3am our friend and fellow carer Debbie Breen rang very distressed. Debbie lives in the Yengo National park and the area was being evacuated. The fire was getting very close and Debbie was worried about our wombats in the release pen. I raised Winston and Hugo from pinkies and although they were big boys, we just didn’t know how they would react to the smoke and danger. So I fed my pinkies and woke my hapless husband for another wildlife adventure.
We drove through Yarramolong and Kulnura no cars, smokey and eerie. We arrived at Yengo in heavy smoke, now to get the boys out of the burrow and into the car. Winston came out no trouble I scooped him up and passed him over the pen to my husband Frank, and into the car. Hugo kept peering out and a couple of times ran out, but I couldn’t get a good grip. He would do a crocodile roll and shake and take off, he was having a great game. the boys had dug two entrances to the burrow so I called out of one and rolled a small log over the entrance, I yelled out to deb that he was coming and she threw herself in front of the other entrance and he leapt into her arms squealing and struggling.
We were so relieved to have them both safe they slept all the way home and back into our pen. In those weeks ahead it seemed like the whole country was burning and the wildlife lost just devastating. Hugo and Winston returned to the release pen in February, they are coming and going from the pen being support fed and enjoying the bush.
Regards Robyn Molony
