Shot 5 times, wombat fights on

THEY'RE an easy target - slow moving and no harm to anyone - but someone still thought it would be fun to use a wombat for shooting practice.

A defenceless one-year-old wombat, christened Beanbag by its rescuers, was shot five times and left for dead near Blanchetown last month.

He was found emaciated and at death's door, peppered with five bullets from a .22-calibre rifle, and staggering between burrows on Portee Station, a privately controlled, 5200ha property south of the town.

One bullet removed from Beanbag had narrowly missed his spine.

See more photos of Beanbag the wombat

Brigitte Stevens, founding director of the Wombat Awareness Organisation that found Beanbag, said the animal may have been shot up to two weeks before he was discovered.

"I just can't believe it. The poor little kid, he looks awful, but to survive being shot five times is just incredible," she said.

"We have had lots of reports of locals who don't like wombats and are shooting them just for the fun of it, the disgusting pigs.

"Often, the wombats go back to their burrow and die of a secondary infection . . . so we are surprised we found this one with bullet wounds."

Bob Irwin, the father of late wildlife crusader Steve Irwin, is a leading supporter of the WAO and has blamed "sporting shooters" for the sickening attack, describing them as "murderous thugs".

He has warned that the southern hairy-nosed wombat - the state's fauna emblem - could be wiped out unless the State Government and public put an end to the killing of the marsupial.

"The people who did this, I describe them as murderous thugs," Mr Irwin said. "That poor thing would have died over a period of weeks or maybe months (if not found).

"You can't call that a sport. Wombats belong to all people, all Australians, not just a bunch of murderous thugs. I feel we have to start now and try to put an end to the killing."

Beanbag is now being looked after in the WAO's intensive care unit at Ponde, where a vet has already removed a .22-calibre slug from next to his spine. The remaining four bullets will be removed once swelling from his injuries has subsided. Ms Stevens expected Beanbag to make a full recovery but said people were regularly driving on to Portee Station, unaware it was private property, and shooting wombats.

"They are shooting anything that moves. In the last three weeks, we haven't seen as many as we used to," she said. The WAO is working with the Bob Irwin Wildlife Fund and the Wombat Protection Society to raise $500,000 to buy Portee Station and establish a wombat sanctuary. Southern hairy-nosed wombats are a protected species but people can apply for destruction permits to shoot them if they are causing environmental and economic damage.

"For an animal to suffer in this way is appalling," said Deb Kelly, animal welfare manager with the Environment and Heritage Department

More pictures: adelaidenow.com.au