A grandmother-of-seven has spent $12,000 over the past five years caring for abandoned baby wombats and says it’s no different to looking after newborn babies.
61-year-old Julie’s latest bundle of joy, ten-month-old Rosie, even sleeps in bed with her and partner, 52-year-old Neville, and acts like a puppy around the house.
‘Wombats are like my babies and I have an undying love for them,’ the wildlife enthusiast who hails from the remote Victorian town Corryong, said.
A grandmother-of-seven has spent $12,000 over the last five years caring for abandoned baby wombats and says it’s no different to looking after newborn babies
Julie said caring for their orphaned wombat Rosie was no different to caring for a newborn
‘They definitely see me as their mother. They’re such loving and loyal creatures who really enjoy their cuddles.
‘Rosie likes to spoon me and if I’m lying on the couch she will jump up and snuggle into me.
‘She’s just started giving us kisses and we kiss her on the mouth.
‘I’ll say ‘Rosie – give mummy kisses’ and she lifts her little head up,’ she continued.
‘She is just like a little puppy dog. Wherever I am she is always at my feet and she follows me everywhere.’
Rosie even snuggles up in bed with Julie and her partner Neville
Julie adopted Rosie as a six-month-old joey after her mother was hit by a car and she was rescued from her pouch.
Now the much-loved marsupial spends her days playing with teddy bears and being wrapped in a blanket while Julie bottle feeds her warm milk every three hours.
She also enjoys running around and playing with the couple’s dog Barney and even acts like a dog herself.
Julie adopted Rosie as a six-month-old joey after her mother was hit by a car
The doting carers bottle feed their baby wombat warm milk every three hours
Amazingly, Julie and Neville have even managed to toilet train all their wombat babies with puppy pads so that there are no nasty accidents in the house.
The animal-loving couple have been running Bellaboo Wildlife Shelter from their home for the past five years.
While they mostly look after orphaned wombats like Rosie, the couple also currently care for two joey kangaroos, two blue-tongued lizards and birds and also have two pet cats.
The animal-loving couple have been running Bellaboo Wildlife Shelter from their home for the past five years
Once Rosie is old enough, she will be rehabilitated to another facility and eventually released back into the wild
Julie’s wombat obsession began after her father brought home an injured wombat when she was a little girl living on a dairy farm.
‘I’ve always adored animals and wombats are especially close to my heart,’ the animal-mad mother-of-two said.
‘They’re easy to look after and just love attention.
‘People don’t realise that wombats are incredibly loving creatures.’
While the couple do grow attached to the dozens of wombats and other animals that come into their care, Julie said that letting her babies return to the wild is ‘a very happy moment’.
The couple do grow attached to the dozens of wombats and other animals that come into their care
Once Rosie is old enough, she will be rehabilitated to another facility and eventually released back into the wild.
‘You have them since they’re babies and raise them so it is sad when they leave. It is especially hard the first night after they’re gone, I do really miss them,’ she said.
‘But you sort of just know when it’s time for them to go and do what they were put on this earth to do. They need to go out and do wombat things, not be stuck inside the house,’ she concluded.