On my hike today, I found a dead wombat on the road.

In Australia, we're often told we should stop and do 'pouch checks' when we see a marsupial killed on the road, as it could have a baby that needs rescuing.

But how do you do a pouch check? What if you find a joey? Well...

... here are some tips I learned from the vet today!

1. Download this PDF from Wildlife Victoria on caring for an injured animal you find on the road. https://www.wildlifevictoria.org.au/images/fact-sheets/Pouch_Checking_Guide_2019.pdf

2. Keep some useful, multipurpose equipment in your car. You can create an entire marsupial rescue kit (see the PDF), but everyday items like gardening gloves, towels, a torch, scissors, spray paint and hand sanitiser are all handy and will help with marsupial rescues.

3. If you see a marsupial on the road and it's safe for you to stop, pull over, completely off the road if possible, with your hazard lights on.

Even if the carcass is bloated, stiff or smelly, a joey in the pouch can survive for UP TO 5 DAYS. You might be able to save it.

4. If an injured animal is hopping on the road, and could be a danger to drivers, call 000 immediately.

If the animal is alive, and off the road, call your wildlife rescue centre. In Victoria: 03 8400 7300.

National wildlife rescue hotline: 1300 596 457.

5. Pop some gloves on and get the body off the road before you try to check its pouch. As with human first aid, your safety should come first, so make sure you're not standing on a blind corner. If it's dark, leave your headlights on. Don't get hurt while trying to help others!

Small animals like possums & echidnas can be picked up and moved off the road. Protect your hands from spines, claws and teeth with gardening gloves, or a cloth if that's all you've got.

Roos can kick, so drag them by the tail.
Wombats don't have tails; drag them by the feet.

Moving dead wildlife well off the road makes the road safer for drivers, for you while you check the pouch, and for scavenging animals such as dingoes, ravens and Tassie devils, so even if you don't save a joey, you can save a life just by moving a dead animal!

6. Check for signs of life. Can you feel its belly rising and falling with its breath? Are its eyes moving? Is it twitching?

If it seems to be alive but unconscious, call the wildlife rescue hotline.

If not, it's time to check the pouch!

7. Turn the body onto its back and check, firstly, if it's male or female.

Males don't have pouches. They do have testicles. If it's a male, grab your spray paint and paint a big X on him so other people know there's no need to stop and look for a joey.

The best colours to use are bright colours like fluoro yellow or orange. Don't use red, as it might be mistaken for blood.

Do this to dead females after you've checked them too.

8. Find the pouch. On most marsupials, a female's pouch is in the middle of her abdomen, about where you'd expect a belly-button to be. The pouch is much bigger than the vagina - you'll spot the former before the latter.

A wombat's pouch is further down, between her legs - it opens butt-wards so it doesn't fill with dirt while she's digging.

Echidnas don't have pouches but they can make a pouchy sort of fold on their bellies. They don't really have nipples either - just a milky patch.

9. Grab your torch and towel before you go poking around the pouch. Older joeys can escape and run or hop onto the road, so you need to be ready to catch them if they try to escape. Younger ones - 'pinkies' - can be hard to see.

10. The pouch may be open or closed. If it's closed, there's probably a joey in there.

Carefully pinch and stretch the pouch open with your fingers to look for joeys. Shine your torch inside. Newborn joeys can be really tiny and some animals can have more than one joey...

... at a time so make sure you look carefully.

What you do next depends on what you find. Remember, the best thing to do is call the wildlife rescue hotline!

Here are the main possibilities for what you might find.

11a: Empty and/or open pouch, teats are small = the animal currently has no baby, and might never have had a baby before (my wombat today looked like this). You can even pinch the teats to double-check if the mother was lactating. Paint an X on the body; your work here is done.

11b: Empty pouch, and one teat is longer than the other = the pouch is 'active.' There's probably an escaped joey around somewhere, and it will die of starvation or exposure without help. Call your wildlife rescuer and keep an eye out for movement in the vegetation nearby.

11c: Joey with fur is inside the pouch = FANTASTIC. These babies have the best chance of survival. Proceed to step 12.

11d: Little pink thing = very young joey! Important lesson I learned today: DO NOT PULL THE TEAT FROM A JOEY'S MOUTH, YOU WILL KILL IT. Young joeys' mouths actually fuse to the nipple and you'll tear their mouths if you pull the teat out. Then they can't suckle, and they'll die.

12: You need to get the joey to the vet. They have to eat every few hours or they'll die, and it has to be their own species' milk, or special formula with the same nutrients.

With small animals like possums, this is easy - just scoop up the mother's body with the baby attached.

13. If you've got a bigger animal like a roo or wombat, and the joey is still a pinkie, you'll struggle to get it in the car. TRIPLE CHECK that the mother is dead, then cut the teat off as close to the mother's body as you can. Do NOT pull it out of the baby's mouth.

14. If you're unable to get the joey out of the pouch, or worried about snagging its limbs, you can - and the mother had better by STONE DEAD for this - cut the pouch to ease it out.

15. Velvet joeys (i.e. furred ones) might cry, hiss or wriggle when you try to take them away from their dead mothers. In this case, they've still got some fight left in them, and are more likely to survive. Be gentle.

16. Keep the joey warm. Pop them inside a makeshift pouch if you can. Purpose-built ones are best, but a beanie, large sock or pillowcase can work too. Your best option is to then slide the 'pouch' you've made inside your jumper or jacket, next to your body.

Your heartbeat and the darkness will help to keep the joey calm. The warmth of your body may save its life.

Be extra careful with pinkies.

17. This may be the first time the joey has come out of the pouch, and it's going through the worst time of its young life. Don't scare it more by taking photos, playing loud music in the car, letting your kids pat it, or showing it to your dog.

And don't put it in the boot!

18. Drive carefully to the vet, or the nearest wildlife carer. Vets have a duty of care to native wildlife - you won't be charged. It's illegal in most states to keep native animals as pets without a license (except budgies, basically) so never try to raise a joey on your own.

19. Tell the vet exactly where you found the animal so it can be released into its natural habitat later. Some marsupials are social (like roos) and have a chance to reunite with their family.

After stabilising the joey's condition, the vet will match it to an expert carer.

20. Don't feel too sad if the joey has to be put down (or any wildlife you bring to the vet). It's better to have the vet kill them humanely than to leave them out to suffer and die of starvation, dehydration or cold, or to die traumatically of predation.

I hope you found this thread educational! I am not a vet, carer or biologist - just an Australian who loves wildlife.

Drive carefully, everyone!