US Edition
An American influencer who was filmed snatching a baby wombat from its mother has fled Australia after officials threatened to cancel her visa.
In a video shared with her 90,000 followers on Instagram, Sam Jones was seen picking up the animal, a protected species, before running with it towards a waiting car while its mother chased after them.
The wombat joey repeatedly squealed as Ms Jones, 24, held it up for the camera before placing it down on the road.
The footage outraged Australians and led to condemnation from high-profile figures including Anthony Albanese, the Prime Minister, who invited the visiting “so-called influencer” to next time try “take a baby crocodile from its mother and see how you go there”.
“To take a baby wombat from its mother, and clearly causing distress from the mother, is just an outrage,” Mr Albanese said.
Ms Jones appeared to return to social media on Friday, addressing the criticism with a post saying “you guys are insane” and that people had made death threats. The account could not be immediately verified.
“You have all gone crazy,” read the post attributed to Ms Jones, who also goes by the name Samantha Strable.
“The hate is currently too much for me to handle.”
She added: “Imagine someone just goes up to your child and curses at them? Let’s have some respect.”
Tony Burke, the Immigration Minister, celebrated the news Ms Jones had left the country on Friday.
“There has never been a better time to be a baby wombat,” Mr Burke said.
Earlier, more than 24,000 people had signed a petition to have the Montana-born influencer deported.
Mr Burke confirmed on Thursday that his department was reviewing Ms Jones’s immigration status.
“Given the level of scrutiny that will happen if she ever applies for a visa again, I’ll be surprised if she even bothers,” he said.
“I can’t wait for Australia to see the back of this individual, I don’t expect she will return.”
Penny Wong, Australia’s foreign minister, also criticised the influencer during an interview with the broadcaster Channel Seven.
She said: “It looked pretty dreadful, didn’t it? Really, leave the wombat alone.”
TikTok apology
Photographs previously shared on social media showed Ms Jones, who describes herself as “an outdoor enthusiast and hunter”, posing with dead animals.
Another photo of her time in Australia showed her holding up an echidna, which is also a protected species.
It was not known where the video of her with the wombat was filmed but it appeared to have been shot in southeastern Australia where the species, identified as the common wombat, is most often found.
In it, Ms Jones could be seen running with the baby wombat in her hands while a man off-camera could be heard laughing and saying: “Look at the mother, it’s chasing after her.”
It was deleted from Instagram but not before it was widely shared with wildlife experts and government officials.
The Wombat Protection Society of Australia also said in a statement: “We are expressing shock and concern over the actions of a tourist who mishandled a wombat joey in an apparent snatch for ‘social media likes’.”
Ms Jones later issued an apology on TikTok, the video-sharing platform.
She told viewers: “Guys … I’m really sorry about the wombat incident. It was a mistake. I’m professional and all the people hating, it’s enough. I learnt my lesson.’’