STEVE McGhie woke up on Monday expecting a normal work day.
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But, before lunch had arrived, he was already a hero.
In the middle of a roadworks job, the Muswellbrook Shire Council Works Depot truck driver, and his co-workers Shane Power and Jackson Ball, noticed a wombat in the middle of the road.
“I went to drag it off and noticed there was something inside,” Mr McGhie said.
After looking in the mother’s pouch, the worker – also known as the “wombat warrior” – saw a newborn wombat curled up inside.
Mr McGhie contacted his supervisor, who altered Wildlife Aid – Upper Hunter Valley.
Before long, a representative was on the scene.
“She asked could we give her a hand, and we had to cut the pouch and get it out,” Mr McGhie said.
With the help of volunteers from Wildlife Aid – Upper Hunter Valley, the newborn wombat was saved from certain death.
It appeared to those present that the adult wombat, discovered on Ferndale Road, near Denman, had been shot.
“It’s not very often that we come across anything like that,” Mr McGhie said, adding it was the first time he had saved an animal in almost 10 years on the job.
“I’ve been on the land all my life and I’ve never seen a baby wombat.”
The baby wombat is now in the care of Wildlife Aid.
The Upper Hunter volunteer group looks after and rehabilitates injured and orphaned native animals.