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Tuesday 05 September 2017

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World's oldest captive wombat goes in search for love on Tinder

Patrick will soon celebrate his 30th birthday but has yet to find a mate

Patrick the wombat who has joined tinder at the age of 30 to find love
Patrick the wombat who has joined tinder at the age of 30 to find love 

A bucktoothed common wombat believed to be the world’s oldest is preparing to celebrate his 30th birthday with a bid to find love.

Or so his handlers at the Ballarat Wildlife Park in Australia say. Lamenting Patrick’s inability to yet find a mate, they have created a profile for the wombat on the popular dating app Tinder.

"The male wombat has to be very aggressive towards the female, and Patrick just isn't a very aggressive wombat," Julia Leonard, Ballarat Wildlife Park owner, told ABC.

"So he chooses to be single."

News crews descended on the park on Tuesday to meet the 88lb (40kg) bare-nosed wombat, who was born the year Ronald Reagan began his second term in office and is pushed around the park in a wheelbarrow.

Ms Leonard said wombats like Patrick generally live only 15-20 years in captivity and less in the wild.

“He’s doing very well,” she told the ABC.

A Facebook page dedicated to the wombat, which has more 32,500 likes, shows Patrick surrounded by presents and balloons and says it was recently gifted a new wheelbarrow.

Local media reported Patrick was one of the longest-term residents of the wildlife park, whose owners rescued him on the side of the road in 1986.

“His secret to his long life is that he has been well looked after,” Ms Leonard told the Courier.

Last year Patrick was named by CNN as the world's third greatest city mascot, in a report which said he has captivated visitors including Nicolas Cage, Kirstie Alley and Kim Cattrall.

Patrick the wombat who has joined tinder at the age of 30 to find lovePatrick the wombat who has joined tinder at the age of 30 to find love

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