Wagga Zoo's newest star attraction Russell, the baby wombat, is stealing hearts of everyone he meets.
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At nine months old, the youngster arrived at the zoo last month and has settled into his nice, big enclosure quite well.
Zoo curator Keiralee Tori said young Russell was rescued from the side of the road by the Porter family in Gundagai, who took on the responsibility of caring for him.
"He only weighed a kilo at the time which usually results in hand-rearing being unviable, but Nicky did an exceptional job to get him past that critical stage," she said.
"Once he got bigger, she contacted the zoo because she wanted a good home for him, and we were happy to be able to provide that for Russell."
Miss Tori said his favourite pastime is running through the grass and every so often, he gets a serious case of the zoomies".
"He is very friendly so when we get the public in, us keepers will pick him up and take him to the fence where he can have a scratch, pat and quick photo," she said.
"We will do isolated window visits for him with the public each day around the fence line of his enclosure, between 10am to 10.30am and again at 2pm to 2.30pm."
IN OTHER NEWS:
But, Russell is not the only new addition to the Wagga Zoo family. Miss Tori said an early Christmas present arrived in the form of a fawn, born in the early hours of the morning on December 8.
She said more newborns are expected to arrive with two more pregnant does due closer to Christmas.
"The does tend to hide their young away for the first four to six days to keep them protected from potential predators," she said.
"However, it won't be long before he'll be out running around the enclosure and getting into all kinds of mischief."