You hear all the time about the pesky kangaroos in Australia. But I've only seen a handful - mostly on the drive to Canberra.

But every couple of days I see another dead wombat - the victim of roadkill. They litter the highways. Unlike the kangaroo, the wombat is a mostly nocturnal slow-moving beast about the size of a small dog, but a bit fatter. Maybe a badger would be a better comparison. The problem with being nocturnal and slow-moving is that they can't get across the street in time in the middle of the night to avoid getting squished.

The typical wombat builds tunnels and burrows for shelter. Miles of them, which makes them a pest in farm areas (where I happen to live). The horses and cows step into the holes and break legs. You can't fence them out because the dig right under it. They also like to burrow under houses.  They're just a fact of life, and whether you like it or not, they were here first. But they're mostly peaceful creatures, which makes it such a shame when you see yet another one that wandered across the highway and went splat.