Australian men perform roadside C-section on roadkill wombat

BLANCHETOWN, Australia, Feb. 27 (UPI) -- A pair of Australian men who saw movement in the abdomen of a roadkill wombat performed a roadside Caesarian section to deliver the marsupial's infant.

Dmrenzo Kotze said in a Facebook post he and friend Chris Dimasi decided to move the roadkill wombat to the side of the dirt road when they discovered it Saturday in Blanchetown, outside of Adelaide, and they were surprised to notice "something moving inside."

"We could kind of see something moving inside," Kotze told The Advertiser. "We thought we could see what we could do because [we thought] it could be a baby."

The men returned to the scene with a knife and Dimasi set to work performing the roadside C-section while Kotze filmed.

"Chris did the C-section because he works at an abattoir," Kotze told Perth Now. "It was actually more comforting to see the baby was moving [so] we were happy to do it."

The men gave the newborn a bath before turning him over to Jane and Phil Budich, members of Fauna Rescue South Australia.

"They [wombats] are normally 3kg [6.6 pounds] when they're born out of the pouch ... but he was pink with no hair and probably needs another 2.5kg [5.5 pounds] in weight," Jane Budich said. "He's on four-hourly [milk] bottles day and night."

The baby was dubbed "Jeffrey" by Kotze and Dimasi, but Budich renamed the newborn "Whisper."

"The boys did an absolutely excellent job -- I cannot commend them enough," she said. "I can't thank them enough for what they did and how they did it and how gently they did it."