Baby Wombat Orphan Steals Hearts at Taronga Zoo, Sydney

Taronga Zoo Sydney released a statement on August 21 announcing the birth of a southern hairy-nosed wombat joey named “Waru”, who was welcomed into the world in February.

Baby Waru’s mother died when he was three and a half months of age due to an unexpected and rare fungal infection, the zoo said.

Since then, the zoo’s keepers have been raising little Waru by hand.

The zoo released a video of Waru having cuddles, feeding, and getting a scratch from his carers.

“Waru is already starting to portray quite a feisty personality, he likes to investigate new things, and often enjoys a good scratch when he emerges from his pouch for playtime each day,” one of the keepers said.

“Southern Hairy-nosed wombats are a ‘near threatened’ species whose numbers continue to decline in the wild due to loss of habitat, road deaths, drought and competition for food and illness,” the zoo said. Credit: Taronga Zoo Sydney via Storyful