Sampling Forestomach Contents of Tammar Wallabies

Forestomach contents were collected from three euthanized female tammar wallabies from a captive colony that had been grazing pasture and receiving a commercial grain pellet mix supplement, as reported previously [24 (link),25 (link)]. The animals were sampled in November 2006 and at the time had free range access to pastures composed predominantly of Timothy Canary grass (Phalaris angusta) and were also provided with a commercial pellet mix containing wheat, bran, pollard, canola, soy, salt, sodium bicarbonate, bentonite, lime and a vitamin premix (Young Stockfeeds, NSW, Australia). A CSIRO Animal Ethics and Experimentation Committee approved euthanasia and tissue collection from the sample animals; animals were euthanized with an overdose of pentobarbitone sodium (CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems Animal Ethics Approval Number 06–20). Prior to shipping to the laboratory on dry ice and subsequent storage at −80°C, forestomach contents were transferred to sterile containers containing a glycerol based cryoprotectant as outlined by McSweeney et al. [26 ].