This adorable little wombat was rescued by Australian fishermen after swimming over 300 yards off shore. The fishermen in question, Craig Wilson and Bob Wilton, scooped their struggling furry friend out of the water with a fishing net – the wombat can be seen holding on tightly in the clip.
The pair were fishing for trout on Woods Lake in central Tasmania when they saw what they thought was a platypus since wombats aren’t typically known to swim. They were quite surprised to discover the wombat struggling to swim.
“We came across the wombat in the water between 250 to 300 metres away from the shore,” Mr Wilson told Daily Mail Australia.
It was a struggle to get their distressed swimmer safely onboard with just the net, so they resorted to barehanding it.
“We tried to scoop him up but he kept falling back out so we grabbed it with our hands to bring it in to the boat,” he said.
Wombats aren’t known for being particularly docile, so grabbing it in a distressful situation could’ve ended badly.
“They’re meant to be aggressive or agitated but it was fine when he was in the boat…he looked pretty worn out.”
“We drove back to shore and we left him on land…he seemed fine, he strolled away into the bush,” said Mr Wilson.
