"Wombat mauls bushfire survivor"

From The Age (Australia):

A BLACK Saturday survivor feared for his life during a wombat mauling in Flowerdale yesterday that lasted up to half an hour and only ended when he was saved by a neighbour.

Bruce Kringle, who lost his house in the deadly blaze, was in hospital last night recovering from bites and lacerations sustained in the ferocious attack. Early yesterday morning, Mr Kringle, 60, was walking down the steps of the caravan he is living in while his house is rebuilt when the wombat attacked. The crazed animal bit and scratched Mr Kringle, who tried to escape but kept being knocked over.

Mr Kringle eventually lay on the animal until a neighbour, known only as Rob, heard his cries for help. After telling Mr Kringle to move off the animal, the neighbour killed it with a blow from the back of an axe...

Experts were yesterday divided as to why a wombat, a herbivorous and usually docile animal, would attack. Department of Sustainability and Environment wildlife officer Geoff McClure said that in 34 years in the job he had never heard a story like this. He said the animal had probably been hand-reared and was bumping the glass to draw attention to itself...

Which must rank as the most laughable explanation for a 'herbivorous and usually docile animal' to attack a human that I have seen so far.

Emailed in by JuliaM.