An urgent council meeting has been called after wallabies were found to be starving at a wildlife sanctuary on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.

Dead wallabies have been found over several months at The Briars nature reserve in Mount Martha — known by traditional owners as Tichin-Gorourke — which is home to native flora and fauna including koalas, emu, echidnas, bandicoots and powerful owls.

A study into the deaths commissioned by the Mornington Peninsula Shire council revealed that abundant rain over the past year had fuelled grass growth and an explosion in the sanctuary's wallaby population, according to the council's mayor.

The University of Melbourne study reportedly found there were about 150 wallabies at The Briars but the reserve could sustain only around 30.

The finding prompte

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