Kate Foran, Tennant & District Times

How many people get to say “I tickled the toes of an echidna at work today”? Local neighbouring households recently observed an echidna burrowing around their back yards. The residents owned dogs, so one rang Barkly Regional Council Animal Management Officer, Enis Zendelli; the other came to see us.

Enis and our nurse, Shoshoni went to see if they could rescue the echidna, which by now had burrowed under a tree stump. Echidnas are tricky creatures to pick up, digging their spikes into the surrounding dirt and anchoring themselves solidly to the ground, to protect their soft underbelly.

Enis and Shoni used gardening gloves, having dug a small trench around him first with a gardening trowel. It was a tricky process involving a lot of comical antics!

Once they got him out of the ground, and rolled onto a towel, they brought him in for a health assessment.

Our current vet, Cecilia (or CC for short) is originally from America, so treating an echidna was a great adventure for her! CC donned some welding gloves to gently prise the echidna’s body out of its rolled-up ball, to inspect him for any injuries.

I had to be quick in snapping some photos, as he wasn’t at all used to being exposed like that!

After getting a clean bill of health, he was relocated to Karguru Nursery, into the watchful care of registered wildlife carer, Cazz Hepburn, where he can safely roam the surrounding bush with minimal human interference.

We applaud the efforts and kindness of both households to care enough to have the echidna rescued and removed to safety. For our part, Barkly Vet Practice provides welfare and treatment to native wildlife at no charge, so everyone contributed to a great outcome!

And, I can attest that despite their sharp spikes, echidna’s toes are as soft as velvet!

This article appeared in Tennant & District Times, 16 September 2022.