Two Aussie fishermen on a day out became the surprise heroes for one lost wombat.
Craig Wilson and his stepfather Bob Wilton were fishing in the central highlands of Tasmania last Friday afternoon, when they came across a wombat struggling to swim on the waters of Woods Lake, roughly 115 kilometres (71 miles) south of Launceston.
"We were just fishing away," Wilson told Mashable Australia on Monday, "When we turned around to have a look, we thought it was a platypus to start with -- then on closer observation it was a wombat."
Despite their noble intentions, it was initially a bit of a struggle to help their new wombat mate: "We tried to get him in the landing net to start with, and he kept getting out of there, so we ended up putting him in the boat," Mr Wilson said.
It's true that some wombats can swim, but it's a surprise how far out they all were.
The duo and the wombat were around 200 metres from shore and the ordeal lasted about 20 minutes, Mr. Wilson said. Once their boat reached shore, the relieved wombat scurried back into the wild.
All in a day's fishing, for two wombat rescuers.
[h/t] The Advocate