Saved from the wild: how Preston the 'pygmy wombat' found a new mum

by · Newcastle Herald
The furry fella is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand which makes the species incredibly vulnerable to larger animals like foxes and domesticated cats. Picture supplied by Aussie Arc.

Abandoned by his mother, Preston the broad-toothed rat has been adopted and raised by conservation group Aussie Ark.

He is the first graduate of their pioneering program for the little-known Australian species.

Preston was abandoned by his mother and found by rangers, who tried to re-bond the little guy with his mum to no avail.

Without parental care he would have died, but luckily he was taken into intensive care by chief conservation officer Hayley Shute.

In what's been billed as a world first, Preston was personally cared for by Ms Shute.

The two have become nearly inseparable.

"It's worth every second of effort. He's the sweetest, rarest little animal I've ever had the privilege to care for, and I'll do everything possible to ensure he has a future," Ms Shute said.

Ms Shute now brings Preston with her everywhere, to work each day and home each night, providing constant warmth and feeding him specialist guinea pig milk delivered carefully by syringe.

Preston and his adopted mum Hayley. Picture supplied by Aussie Arc.

Managing director Tim Faulker said Preston's species, nicknamed the pygmy wombat by Aussie Ark, was neither truly a wombat nor a rat.

"The species name is misleading. It's not in the Rattus genus at all, it's part of the Mastacomys genus and its personality couldn't be further from a typical rat," he said.

"It's gentle, shy, doesn't bite or smell, and has a round face, button nose and sparkly eyes just like a tiny wombat."

"So we started calling it the pygmy wombat... and the name has stuck."

In the wild, the broad-toothed rat lives in fragile, high-altitude swamps including the Barrington Tops region.

Because of Preston's unique upbringing, he will not be rewilded. Instead, he has been chosen as the species ambassador, which involves undertaking official duties in educating the public on the precarious survival of these endangered animals.

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