Wombats face severe welfare challenges from sarcoptic mange, road casualties, and persecution by some landowners. Their welfare deserves more attention than they typically receive.
Mange-affected wombats experience intensifying welfare harm over months as mite infestation progresses. Lesions begin around the face and spread across the body, causing hair loss, skin thickening, blindness, and eventual death from hypothermia, starvation, or secondary infection. The suffering is prolonged and severe. Road-killed wombat females often have live pouch joeys that survive the crash — road casualty checks and joey rescue are therefore important welfare interventions. Wombats killed by landowners may be shot, poisoned, or fumigated in their burrows — with variable welfare quality. Legal protection (wombats are protected in all states) does not prevent persecution in isolated rural areas.