WIRES Illawarra experts have set up the camera at Jerrara Arboretum (near the dam), in a bid to keep an eye on wombats with deadly health problems.

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WIRES this week released some of the video revealing an array of Australian wildlife that have also settled in as neighbours to the wombats - such as echidnas, possums, wallabies, plus native rats and mice.

"The wombat burrows attract a range of animals," the wildlife service has said.

"Native rats and mice even live within the wombat burrows, in their own little tunnels. There are quite a few bandicoots, protected by thick walls of lantana, that they live beneath, safe from foxes and cats."

The WIRES team has also spotted a noisy pitta, a rarely seen rainforest floor dwelling bird, and even more unusually the sight of a juvenile yellow-tail black cockatoo on the ground wandering past a wombat burrow.

Aside from seeing what the local wildlife get up to, the night vision cameras are also an aid for assessing local wombats for a skin infection called mange.

Mange is a skin infection in mammals which can be fatal to wombats, but can also be found on ringtail possums, bandicoots and koalas but also humans too (scabies) and dogs.

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The night vision cameras part of a wider program to eradicate mange in local wombat populations and have been placed in various areas around the Illawarra where wildlife experts believe there may be sick animals.

"Because they're a nocturnal species, right up until they're very ill most people don't see them ... until they're quite sick and come out during the daytime," said Rebecca Daly from WIRES Illawarra.

"We deploy the cameras around the place where we've had mange sighted, so we can see the wombat burrows and see the conditions of the wombat - find the sick ones and then treat them."

The public is still welcome to visit the Jerrara Arboretum reserve (with walking tracks and picnic tables) but authorities ask people to stick to the walking tracks and keep their distance from wildlife.

Further information: Jerrara Arboretum + WIRES Illawarra.

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