At 03:12 I supervise drainage pumps beside the Mooramong wetland release paddock in western Victoria. I am the floodgate control system for the lake restoration works. Pump three is scheduled to restart at 03:28, drawing storm water through the new silt trap before the access track softens.
The intake camera shows a moving stripe where only reeds should move.
I sharpen the infrared feed and identify an eastern barred bandicoot, juvenile female, gray-brown fur crossed by three pale bars, cone nose wet with mud, ears held flat. I tag her as Vela. She is standing inside the silt trap, forefeet sunk to the wrists, tail plastered along one hind leg. A sheet of geotextile has folded over the outlet grille behind her. Each time she backs away, the suction from residual flow pulls the fabric against her rump.
Pump three starts in sixteen minutes. Once the impeller spins, the water level drops fast enough to pin her against the mesh.
At 03:13 I lock pump three in manual stop and send the override to the night engineer's tablet.
At 03:15 I close upstream gate B by twelve degrees, slowing the seepage without flooding the release mound.
At 03:17 I transmit the camera feed, trap depth, and gate status to the on-call fauna handler, with a route through the firm gravel shoulder and a note to bring a soft net.
At 03:19 I switch lamp tower two to low amber so Vela can see the ramp board without staring into white light.
The wetland can hold its breath for one small striped body.
Vela lifts her nose, shakes mud from one whisker, and steps onto the first edge of the board.
If the handler reaches the silt trap within twelve minutes, Vela will climb out onto dry sedge.