News

Mt Wilga and Berkeley Vale Private Hospitals help ‘Willamina the Wombat’ return to the wild

May 04, 2021

She was a tiny, two-gram joey orphaned in the devastating bushfires of 2020. Now, she’s a plump 27-kilogram wombat - with an impressive name honouring the hospital which made her survival possible.

Meet Willamina the Wombat - named after Ramsay Health Care’s Mt Wilga Private Hospital.

The connection started in the wake of the 2020 summer bushfires - when both Mt Wilga and Berkeley Vale Private Hospitals donated medical supplies to a volunteer animal rescue group in the Snowy Mountains called Looking After Our Kosciuszko Orphans (LAOKO).

The medical equipment had expired but could be of great use to the animal carers, including IV fluids, sterile water for irrigation, non-sterile gauze, betadine, chlorhexidine swabs, suture kits, sterile drapes, crepe bandages and local anaesthetic.

It was life-saving equipment, not only for Willamina, but for hundreds of animals who were cared for by volunteer veterinary surgeons in a triage area set up at the local showgrounds and at a Cooma park.

As a sign of appreciation, the LAOKO volunteers decided to name the wombat in Mt Wilga Private Hospital’s honour and, in April 2021, a very healthy Willamina the Wombat was released back into the wild.