Pictures: Phillip Castleton/aremedia.com.au
Ask most four-year-olds what animals they have at home and they might tell you they have a cat, a dog or maybe a rabbit. But ask Aussie kid Ashlee Neille and her answer is a little different. Living in her home at the moment are four wombats, six deer, three emus, 10 cows, two dogs, a few horses, some chooks and 150 free-range guinea pigs!
Ashlee’s parents Josh Neille and Amber Moyes have run a wildlife shelter from their home in Gippsland, Victoria, for the past eight years – and their daughter has proven to have quite an affinity with the animals they rescue.
“I don’t think she really had any choice,” Josh tells Woman’s Day, laughing. “When she was a baby, she was lying on the floor, playing on an activity mat, when a ring-tailed possum walked over the arch. She doesn’t know any different. Her siblings are animals.”
Josh, 35, and Amber, 31, have been rescuing animals since 2015, alongside his day job in the oil industry and hers as a medical receptionist. Now, thanks to their social media presence, people from all over Australia contact them to ask for help rescuing injured wildlife.
Ashlee appears regularly in their TikTok posts and her bond with the animals has prompted some followers to compare her to a young Bindi Irwin.
“People comparing us to the Irwins is such a privilege,” enthuses Josh. “Steve Irwin was my idol. They’re Australian icons.”
It’s Ashlee’s relationship with the wombats they rescue that has particularly captured the imagination of audiences across the world. She’s regularly seen running with the marsupials, as well as cuddling and feeding them.
“I like to play with them when I get home from kindy,” says Ashlee. “They run very fast. Sometimes they need looking after.”
The family has cared for 15 injured wombats until they were ready to be released back into the wild.
“It feels good to help them get better,” says Ashlee. “Sometimes it’s sad when they leave, but wild animals belong in the bush.”
She adds, “I want to be an animal doctor when I grow up.”
At the moment, Ashlee has a strong bond with one of the rescued wombats, Stormy. During some recent bad weather, Ashlee crept out of the house in the night to get Stormy from her enclosure so she didn’t feel frightened. Josh and Amber discovered their little girl cuddling Stormy in her bed.
Josh laughs, “We had to say, ‘No wombats in the bed!’”
Some of the family’s videos show Ashlee dragging around a huge python called Banjo.
“He’s not scary because he’s non-venomous,” explains the little girl. “He doesn’t bite or anything.”
Josh and Amber have worked hard to teach Ashlee how to recognise dangerous animals to ensure she doesn’t get hurt.
“We don’t touch snakes in the wild,” Ashlee says. “If you see a venomous snake, you walk away slowly and tell a parent.”
Josh is quick to explain that he supervises everything Ashlee does.
“Yes, she drags around big snakes and stuff, but that’s because I know them,” he insists. “There are some animals I’d never let her go near. A wombat might scratch or bite her here or there, but it’s like kids being around a family dog.
“You know it and understand its behaviour. That’s risk tolerance for us as parents and I think we’ve managed it pretty well.”
Parks Victoria regulate all the rescue work the family does to ensure they are treating animals the right way. Josh and Amber have self-funded their shelter.
“To raise a wombat from the pouch to going back in the wild takes a year and it also costs around $2500,” explains Josh. “That all comes out of my own pocket. It’s expensive, but we love doing it.”
For Ashlee and her parents, it’s a dream come true.
“Not every little girl gets to parade around with a wombat under the sprinkler in the summer,” says Josh. “That’s pretty special.”
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
