SA wombat population under threat
Already this year on The Wire we’ve had stories about regional declines in the number of kangaroos and koalas in some parts of Australia. Now conservationists are concerned about a disease causing wombats in parts of South Australia to lose their fur and waste away.
It isn’t known exactly what is causing the marsupials to get sick, but scientists believe they’re being forced to starve – or eat toxic weeds that cause liver disease – because the grasses they usually eat are dying out.The problem is concentrated in the Murray River region in the state’s east, where wildlife workers have reported seeing thousands of the native southern hairy-nosed wombats struggling to survive. They say there needs to be urgent action to stop the species disappearing from the area.