Canberra's wombats are silent victims of the city's growing developments.
With their habitat increasingly threatened by new homes, wombats are venturing further into the suburbs.
Yolandi Vermaak from Wombat Rescue ACT said they were finding wombats in stranger places.
"We're finding more and more wombats living in drains, which is obviously unsafe because it floods," the organisation's president said.
"We have one wombat who lives under Athllon Drive in a stormwater drain, and we rescued a baby last week who lived in a stormwater drain. We got him out two days before it flooded.
"We're also finding burrows that have four wombats living in them, when normally one wombat would have up to five burrows."
With the wet weather over the past week, Ms Vermaak received more than 12 calls from people who found wombats in their homes and sheds.
"When it rains and it floods, wombats will come into the suburbs, and people need to be aware of that when they're driving," Ms Vermaak said.
"Wombats usually only have a few burrows in their territory, so if their burrows flood, they have nowhere to go."
Rain can flood and even collapse burrows, leaving the occupant trapped underground.
Wombats are territorial, so they can't just move into a new area. When bushland becomes part of new developments, they're forced to compete for new territories with existing wombats.
Homeless wombats were discussed by the ACT government's environment committee this month, and a series of recommendations were made to better protect them from housing developments.
The inquiry noted wombats were at high risk from urban development, and suburbs such as Denman Prospect were seeing increased vehicle collisions with wombats.
Wombats are not currently listed as a threatened species in the ACT.
The committee recommended the ACT government make pre-development inspections for burrowing animals mandatory for developers.
It also encouraged the government to make "decisions about the management of burrowing animals found during pre-development, including relocation wherever possible".
It did not make recommendations on what those decisions should be.
Wombat Rescue protects and advocates for wombats in the ACT, running mange treatment programs and rescuing wombats hit on the roads.
The five wombats Ms Vermaak currently cares for were rescued from their mother's pouch, after she was hit by a vehicle.
Ms Vermaak said the increasing development of land around Canberra was exacerbating the impact of rain and flooding on wombat populations.
"We keep developing, and unless we do something like give them land or build manmade burrows, this is going to become a bigger problem down the track," she said.
"If a wombat is in your shed or under a trailer, just leave them be, they will move on eventually. But the bigger issue of them not having anywhere to go is still not being answered."
If you hit a wombat or you find one in an unsafe place around the ACT, Wombat Rescue can be contacted on their website.
