Passionate wildlife warriors and community members have been breaking the law to stop the spread of a disease that is killing Tasmanian wombats by the hundreds.
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Mange has spread with unprecedented speed throughout the wombat population of Northern Tasmania’s Narawntapu National Park, killing almost every animal that it comes into contact with.
University of Tasmania wildlife ecology research Dr Scott Carver said the disease resulted in the worst sort of animal suffering that he had seen.
When the outbreak started in 2010, it’s estimated the wombat population clocked in at more than 200.
The latest estimates now put that figure at less than 10.
Experts rallied around the wombats, employing experimental methods to try and halt the disease’s crippling impact.
They were treating the disease with Cydectin, a pour-on treatment that is used to treat similar diseases in cattle and sheep.
Residents of the West Tamar joined the fight, battling the disease as it spilled out of the park and entered their backyards.
However, because it was not recommended by its manufacturer for use on wildlife such as wombats, it was technically an illegal process.
But as of last week, they’re no longer acting outside the law.
After an eight-month battle, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority issued a permit to allow the use of the treatment.
The green light is a welcome relief for Tasmanian Wildlife Rehabilitation Council president Oma Rodger.
Sadly, however, the permit comes too late for the wombats of Narawntapu.
Mrs Rodger said the council and others would now turn their efforts to ensuring the future of the rest of Tasmania’s wombats.
She said that while the teams had been employing Cydectin illegally in the West Tamar (they treated the wombats by building guards around their burrows that dropped the treatment on them when they moved in or out) the dense population and unique habits of that population made it difficult to maintain a constant treatment.
The treatment needs to be applied 12 times to be effective, and unlike other populations, the wombats in the area moved from burrow to burrow, making it difficult to deliver the complete dosage.
“Then we had the floods [in June 2016] that flooded the burrows and exacerbated the wombats’ illness,” Mrs Rodger said.
The Cydectin treatment began in 2015, when it was already estimated that 60 per cent of the Narawntapu population had been affected.
Dr Carver started tracking the mange outbreak in 2013.
“It escalated quickly. It spread from the east of the park to the west of the park,” Dr Carver said, who continues to monitor the state’s wombat population.
“We estimated in September last year that there had been a 94 per cent decline [in wombat numbers in Narawntapu].”
Dr Carver said Cydectin was a good “stop-gap” for the disease.
“But (at) the same time in the future we need to have new tools … to improve the chance of controlling the disease,” he said.
“It’s wide-spread across Tasmania but it seems to be more prevalent at a lower elevation and in coastal areas.”
A spokesperson from the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment said the department agreed with Dr Carver.
“There are also various methods of applying the treatment which need to be explored in terms of treatments effectiveness depending the context,” the spokesperson said.
The department also said that more knowledge was needed around the impact of the disease on the wombat population level.
“The impact mange has had, we know in the Narwantapu, and west of the Tamar Valley region, but it’s a bit less clear the impact that it is having on the total population.
“We do know that on the statewide scale, it’s not decimating (the population). So that’s a positive in the whole thing.”
With so few wombats left in the park, the way forward now, Dr Carver said, sadly, was to wait for the remaining animals to die out.
The mite that causes mange cannot survive without a host for more than three weeks.
Once the park has been given the all clear, Dr Carver said they would look at re-introducing wombats into the area. It will likely be a year before this happens.
Dr Carver will continue his wombat research, and investigate how the mange came to infest itself within the wombat population.
He said it was most likely introduced by European settlers, and their domestic animals, and that it was an invasive disease.
Mrs Rodger said she was hoping to continue the use of Cydectin, and look at introducing the burrow-treat method to other parts of the state.
The department will also continue to work with existing community groups through its wombat working group.
For more information on the Tasmanian Wildlife Rehabilitation Council visit www.taswildlife.org