Mr ENTSCH: I recently visited an amazing tourism attraction in my electorate, Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures, where I was told I would be having the honour of naming two radiated tortoises, which originate from Madagascar.
Little did I know that it was simply a ruse.
Hartley’s owners, Angela and Peter Freeman, had other ideas.
The real reason for the visit was to have a baby common or bare-nosed wombat named after yours truly.
To say I was shocked and humbled would be an understatement.
Warren the wombat is now 10 months old and weighs around 4.5 kilos and, like his namesake, he’s very cute and cuddly.
He was born at Hartley’s during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to Nulla, a six-year-female, and Tonka, a 15-year-old male wombat.
Unfortunately, Nulla was unable to look him and he started to be hand reared by the magnificent keepers in late February this year.
Warren the wombat is very active.
He loves to run around and play games with the keepers before bunking down for a little snooze.
He will continue to come home each night with the keepers until he reaches 12 to 14 months old, in which time he will be old enough to stay at Hartley’s overnight so he won’t need a late-night bottle.
If you’re visiting Cairns in Far North Queensland, make sure you drive a little further north to Wangetti, drop in at Hartley’s Crocodile Adventures and say, ‘Hi’ to Warren the wombat.
For the record, the radiated tortoises were named Pebbles and Gypsy Radiata.