A Taronga Zoo keeper is providing round the clock care for the baby wombat shown below. She was rescued after her mother was struck by a car outside of Sydney.
Evelyn Weston, a Taronga Zoo keeper has taken on the role of caring for the young orphan. She is carrying the 6 month old around in a makeshift pouch and making sure that he receives 5 hourly feeds.
The joey named ‘Chloe’ was rescued near Jenolan caves in June by a wildlife carer. Chloe was found in the pouch alive even though the mother had been killed.
One week after being found Chloe came to the Taronga Wildlife Hospital so she could receive ongoing care. She is one of the 1,000 animals who will receive help from Taronga Zoo due to being orphaned or injured this year. Taronga’s keeper’s hearts have been melted by the young joey that has plenty of new moms ready to help if she gets into trouble.
That’s lucky as it seems Chloe is quite a troublemaker by all account. Evelyn joked that, “She’s very affectionate and also a bit naughty. She loves chewing on shoes and if you walk away from her she chases after you like a rocket.”
Even though she may chew on a shoe she is only feeding on bottles of a special milk formula.
Soon she will be introduced to solids but at the moment she doesn’t seem particularly interested. “We did try to see if she’d nibble on a bit of grass, but she just thought it was something to lie on,” said Evelyn.
Soon Chloe will move to a temporary home in the zoo’s Australian Walkabout habitat meaning she will need to leave Evelyn’s care. She will remain there for 18 months getting ready to return to the wild.
Photo Credit: Paul Fahy/ Taronga Zoo
