A U.S. influencer has united Australia—and much of the world—in outrage after filming and filming herself snatching a baby wombat from its mother and posting the clip online.
The Montana-based content creator, known as “Sam Jones”, calls herself a “wildlife biologist and environmental scientist” on her now-private Instagram account. In a since-deleted video, shot in Australia, Jones is seen grabbing a baby wombat from its mother near a remote road at night. She runs back to her vehicle, holding the animal up to the camera, as the mother wombat runs after them.
“I caught a baby wombat,” Jones exclaimed in the video. The animal appeared to be distressed in the clip, wriggling and hissing. A man behind the camera can be heard laughing: “Look at the mother,” he said, “it’s chasing after her!” The baby appears to be a common wombat, which is a protected marsupial found only in Australia.
According to BBC news, the caption of the now-deleted post read: “My dream of holding a wombat has been realised! Baby and mom slowly waddled back off together into the bush.”
Responding to early criticism, Jones defended her actions in the video’s comments. “The baby was carefully held for one minute in total and then released back to mom,” she wrote. “They wandered back off into the bush together completely unharmed. I don’t ever capture wildlife that will be harmed by my doing so.”
That didn’t stop the user backlash and Jones, who has more than 92,000 followers on Instagram, made her account private. But the video—and other posts allegedly from her account, including images of her holding an echidna and a “little shark”—continue to circulate online.
On Friday morning, ABC Australia sent out a news alert saying the influencer had left Australia voluntarily, as a petition calling for her deportation amassed over 39,000 signatures.
“There’s never been a better day to be a baby wombat in Australia,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke responded to news of her departure, according to the Associated Press. Earlier that day, Burke confirmed that authorities were reviewing Jones’s visa conditions for potential breaches of immigration law. “I can’t wait for Australia to see the back of this individual, I don’t expect she will return,” he said in the statement received by the Associated Press.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also weighed in. “I suggest to this so-called influencer, maybe she might try some other Australian animals, take a baby crocodile from its mother and see how you go there,” he said. “Take another animal that can actually fight back, rather than stealing a baby wombat from its mother. See how you go there.”
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