We have a property adjoining the Wombat Forest. We have two Cairn Terriers - one about 6kgs (Lily) and the other 11kgs (Jasper). The little girl has gone into a wombat hole nearer to the house twice. We can hear her faintly barking but it sounds very muffled. You can also hear a wind noise which is the wombat protecting its burrow. Both times after lots of calling she has come out after an hour or so. She was just doing what Cairns do naturally - go down holes! It was very stressfull for the family and there were lots of tears when we thought she was not coming back. Jasper was too timid to venture into the hole. We now block the entrance to that burrow between morning and dusk - when the wombats stay in the burrow.
Last week we went to the property for a few hours in the late afternoon. The two dogs simply vanished around 5pm. We scoured the surrounding farmlands and forest but they just seemed to disappear. They were definitely not in the wombat hole that Lily has been in before. Not knowing where they were was heart breaking - especially for my daughters. After 35 hours when we had given up hope, they appeared on the front doorstep. Both had mud underneath their bodies, and some mud spatterings on their heads. We believe they had been stuck in a wombat hole all that time. As its the breeding season and the wombats are protective, it may have been that a wombat blocked them in and didn't leave the burrow on the first night. They appeared some time between midnight and 8am.Other than that they may have got lost in the tunnels which I believe can go as long as a km. After a good wash all seemed fine. But 4 days later and after a trip to the vet, Lily was crawling with ticks (eggs, baby ticks, and adult ticks - hundreds of them), and Jasper has torn his cornea which we are still treating. Everyone is astounded that they both made it out OK. They wouldn't have got close to the wombat unless by accident - they just bark a lot but wouldn't attack or bite. Also being smaller they are easily able to navigate the hole.
Our big issue now is that we cannot trust them to roam our property as there are lots of wombat holes. Its a shame as they love running through the forest. We shall have to build a dog run and only have them off lead when supervised. The stress is too much to bear otherwise!
