Canberra woman thought wild wombat would kill her in vicious suburban street mauling
A Canberra woman learned the hard way that wombats are not cute and cuddly - but can be the opposite - when she was mauled by the marsupial while walking her dogs in a suburban street.
Kerry Evans was left with more than 20 bites, cuts and bruises to both legs and arms, stomach and buttocks, after a large wombat attacked in Banks, south Canberra on Monday night.
She told the Canberra Times she was walking her two English springer spaniels along the usual route about 7.30pm when she thought she saw a "large boulder" in the distance.
But when she came close, she realised the object was actually a large wombat, which charged at her dog Murphy.
Her dog began to yelp and tried to run, and in the commotion Mrs Evans became tangled in the leads and fell to the ground.
She recounted the terrifying ordeal where she tried to get up from the ground, but the vicious wombat overpowered her.
"I was laying screaming for help, I couldn't get away from it, every time I managed to get up it attacked me and bit me and knocked me to the ground," she said.
"I really thought I was going to lay there and die that night because I just couldn't see how I was going to get way from it, it just wasn't stopping its attack."
She told the newspaper she was thankful a neighbour and nearby driver intervened and grabbed the dogs off the woman, who Mrs Evans says were also terrified of the wombat.
"One woman screamed 'let go of the dogs' and I wouldn't because my dogs were terrified," she said.
"I was scared of them running off in the dark."
With the the dogs tended to, Mrs Evans said she was able to get to her feet moments before the wombat disappeared.
Paramedics took her to Canberra Hospital for treatment, where she received a tetanus shot and stitches for three slit-like bites, which were at risk of infection.
"When I was in hospital I had to have quite a few bags of IV because they don't know enough about the risk of infection from wombats," she said.
"They even had to go and make sure I didn't have rabies. I know that sounds silly in Australia but the doctor actually had to go and check on that."
She was released at 2am Tuesday morning and instructed to return at 8.30 to the Plastics Clinic for further treatment, The Daily Mail reported.
"I underwent surgery to again clean the wounds, cut out dead skin and stitch many of the bites.
"I was discharged from hospital on Wednesday. I am still in pain but recuperating," she said.
Mrs Evans reported the attack to ACT Parks and Conservation but she says rangers could not locate the animal.
An ACT Parks and Conservation spokesman told the Canberra Times Mrs Evan's report was the first wombat attack they knew of in Canberra.
"Without knowing the full details of what happened it is likely that the presence of dogs meant that the wombat felt threatened," the spokesman said.
