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Wombat Ghouls 26-Feb-2007 At 8:21:35 PM Darrren

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From www.thesarvo.com:

Some mates of mine staying in the hut at Ben Lomond reported that some Hobart climbers had cut the head off a wombat with a pocket knife, and brought the head still dripping with blood up to the hut. If this is true, these guys are a disgrace to the climbing scene and to humanity. If Parks and Wildlife found out about this, this could have negative ramifcations for the future of climbing on the mountain. If you are one of the wombat ghouls and you are reading this, please respond and verify the truth and circumstances of this incident.
Gerry Narkowicz

WOMBAT GHOULS - THE FULL STORY
The initial story I heard was second hand and slightly exaggerated. I have rung the interstate climbers who met the wombat ghouls at the hut, and got the story direct. They had run the wombat over, and it was still alive, so they thought the best way to end its misery was to slit its throat with a small pocket knife. They ended up cutting its whole head off. They didn't bring the head to the hut. Still ghastly bad behaviour and over the top I would have thought. If it was necessary to finish it off, why not drop a boulder on it or something. They were using Hobart uni climbing club equipment. Apparently they were also very critical of Climb Tasmania's selected best guide. Half the good routes in Tassie have been left out according to them. Well I polled about 10 experienced local climbers and got their selected best lists and merged them together, plus picked the 2 and 3 star routes out of the existing guidebooks. You can't get more comprehensive or unbiased than that. Same old story - jealous low life who criticise, but do nothing to develop the sport themselves
Gerry Narkowicz