CARAVAN dweller Bruce Kringle has forgiven his crazed attacker who put him in hospital with chest, arm, leg and feet injuries.

The 60-year-old survivor of last year's horrific Victorian bushfires struggled helplessly for 20 minutes with his assailant ... an out-of-control wombat.

His terrifying ordeal with the normally docile and cuddly metre-long marsupial only came to an end when a neighbour rushed to his aid and killed it with one blow of an axe.

Mr Kringle spent two days in hospital recovering from deep bites and scratches received in the bizarre mauling at Flowerdale, Victoria, where he lives in his caravan while his bushfire-ravaged home is being rebuilt.

"I thought I was a goner ... those teeth were something shocking," he told media after the attack.

It is believed heart sufferer Mr Kringle accidentally stepped on the short-legged animal as he left his caravan to go to the toilet, throwing it into a rage.

"I don't really blame the wombat ... it was probably still traumatised after also surviving the Black Saturday bushfires," the forgiving Mr Krimble said.

Eight people died and over 300 homes were destroyed in Flowerdale during the February, 2009, bushfires which claimed a total of 173 lives and devastated local wildlife.

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