At 11:58 PM 12/08/2003 -0400, JordanVw@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 8/12/03 11:54:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
>s.overmyer@UWS.EDU.AU writes:
>
>
>>Sadly,the poor old wombat wasn't
>>so lucky...:(
>
>
>ok, what the hell is a WOMBAT??  :<)
>
>chris

  Chris et al,

  have a look at....
  http://www.dpiwe.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/BHAN-53F7KJ?open

  But in short,Wombats are an Australian marsupial that are
  nocturnal in nature.
  They are up to about 4 feet long and can weigh up to maybe 80
  or 100 lbs for a big male.They are very strong and live in burrows
  that are large complexes of underground tunnels.
  They have long claws for digging and whilst they can be pretty laid
  back,they do have a temper so you treat them with respect :)
  You don't want to p*ss one off...

   Unfortunately they roam about at night and as their road sense
   is non-existant,they often get cleaned up on country roads.
   They can make a mess of small cars too...I have known of
   someone who was killed when they collided with one while
   driving a Mini Minor.It rolled the Mini and the driver was thrown
   out with fatal results.

   The one I hit lifted the van up on two wheels as it went over it
   and the trailer followed.Sadly the wombat was history,but at
   least it appeared to have been killed instantly,and wasn't writhing
   around in pain...
   Besides cleaning off hair and blood,the van escaped with needing
   only a wheel alignment despite hitting what felt like two bags of
   cement on the road.

   The poor feller chose to cross the road in a dip and my headlights
   didn't pick him up untill I was almost on him.With a loaded van
   and a trailer carrying a water tank,I couldn't do a lot of quick
   swerving to avoid him,although I did try...

   Cheers,
   Steve O
   NSW Austraila
   '92 Transporter WBX Kombi
   '00 Transporter Double Cab
   '03 Transporter Double Cab (work truck)