Queanbeyan Police Station’s newest recruit has been digging into some deskwork and helping claw back crime since joining the force last month.
Monaro Police District’s Senior Constable Tori Murray took in eight-month-old bare nosed wombat, Ted, after his mother was struck and killed by a car in late June.
Ted will remain in Senior Constable Murray’s care for approximately 18 months until he is old enough to be returned to his natural habitat.
For the past five years, Senior Constable Murray has volunteered with Wildcare to help rescue, care for and rehabilitate injured native animals across the Monaro region.
Monaro Police District’s Inspector Charles Hutchins said having animals like Ted in the police station has been a rarity over his career in blue.
“I know at different police stations I’ve been at there might be a kangaroo joey that might appear once in a while,” he said.
“The officers at Queanbeyan have taken very positively to Ted. As you can appreciate, with a baby animal everyone is very nurturing and caring and very interested in the process he will undertake until he’s released back into the wild.
“I’m sure there’s plenty of cuddles being passed around the office … How can you not love a baby wombat?”
On top of regular work duties, Senior Constable Murray bottle feeds Ted a special wombat formula up to four times a day.
“If I was asked, I’d definitely help out with a feed, but knowing Senior Constable Murray, she definitely takes those things seriously and she’s definitely the sort of person that would be taking care of a lot of that sort of stuff,” Inspector Hutchins said.
Given it’s currently school holidays, Inspector Hutchins stressed the importance of taking care on the roads and driving to conditions, not just for the sake of other road users, but for the safety of the local wildlife and livestock too.
“It’s school holidays now, with everyone travelling up and down the highways to the snow or down to the coast I’d encourage people to drive to the conditions, be aware that there are animals on the road, whether they’re wombats or kangaroos or local livestock.
“If you see them, slow down and exercise caution and drive to the conditions, there’s going to be snow on the roads, it’s going to rain,” he said.
