Wombats are cute and cuddly, but this one just left a woman in hospital

Wombats aren't all cuteness and cuddles, you know. A woman and her dogs were attacked by a wombat while going for their daily walk.

Kerry Evans of Canberra, Australia was walking her two springer spaniels when the wombat, who'd been eating in a nearby garden, charged the trio. 

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This caused the dogs to panic, knocking Evans right off her feet. She told the Canberra Times that once she was on her back, she was within reach of the wombat's claws and couldn't get away. "I was laying screaming for help. I couldn't get away from it. Every time I managed to get up it attacked me and bit me and knocked me to the ground," she said.

Evans added that the experience was so terrifying, she feared for her life. "I really thought I was going to lay there and die that night because I couldn't see how I could get away from it, it just wasn't stopping its attack."

Answering her cries for help, a neighbour and a passing driver rescued Evans, calming her dogs and allowing her the space to scramble to her feet.

Fairfax media reported that Evans suffered multiple lacerations from 20 bites, three of which required stitches. 

The attack is called the first of its kind in Canberra, but the reason for the fuzzy wuzzy wombat's aggressive charge can only be hypothesised. A Parks and Conservation spokesman to Fairfax Media that "without knowing the full details of what happened it is likely that the presence of dogs meant that the wombat felt threatened," he reported.

A wombat attack is quite rare and sparsely documented, with only a handful of instances reported. In 2010 a bushfire survivor was rushed to hospital after reportedly being mauled by a wombat who he'd accidentally stepped on.

Thought the animals are generally considered docile and adorable, it would be advisable to leave them alone in the wild, as they're very timid. 

Image: kerry evans/supplied

The wombat responsible for the attack of Evans and her dogs is still at large.