US influencer draws backlash for taking baby wombat from mum

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong is the latest to criticise a US influencer whose video of herself taking a wild baby wombat away from its distressed mother has angered conservationists.

“I think everyone who would have seen that would have thought, leave the baby wombat alone. Leave it with its mum,” she told 7News.

Sam Jones, who describes herself as an “outdoor enthusiast and hunter” on Instagram, was filmed picking up a baby wombat by an unidentified road and running across it to a car, while its mother ran after them.

The man behind the camera can be heard laughing: “Look at the mother, it’s chasing after her!” The video, which was filmed in Australia, has since been deleted.

Immigration officials are reviewing Ms Jones’s visa, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told the BBC, amid calls for her to be deported.

“Given the level of scrutiny that will happen if she ever applies for a visa again, I’ll be surprised if she even bothers,” Burke said in a statement.

An online petition supporting Ms Jones’s deportation has received 10,500 signatures so far.

Ms Jones’s “appalling” behaviour could have caused severe harm to the wombats, conservationists say.

The Wombat Protection Society said it was shocked to see the “mishandling of a wombat joey in an apparent snatch for ‘social media likes'”.

“[She] then placed the vulnerable baby back onto a country road – potentially putting it at risk of becoming roadkill,” it noted in its statement, adding that it remains unclear if the joey reunited with its mother.

“I caught a baby wombat,” Ms Jones exclaimed in the video, while the joey, as it’s known, could be heard hissing and struggling in her grip.

Her caption in 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.”

“The baby was carefully held for one minute in total and then released back to mom,” Ms Jones wrote in the comments.

“They wandered back off into the bush together completely unharmed. I don’t ever capture wildlife that will be harmed by my doing so.”

Following the backlash, Ms Jones, who has more than 92,000 followers on Instagram, made her account private. But several media outlets had already shared the video – as well as earlier posts, said to be taken in Australia, which show her holding an echidna and a “little shark”.

Wombats, which are native to Australia, are a legally protected species across the country. Baby wombats share a strong bond with their mothers, and any separation can be distressing and harmful, conservationists say.

“Wombats are not a photo prop or plaything,” said Suzanne Milthorpe, Head of Campaigns at World Animal Protection Australia, in a statement online.

“It’s just unacceptable, and we’re glad she’s being called to account. Snatching a screaming baby wombat from their mother is not just appalling, it’s very possibly illegal under state or national laws,” Ms Milthrope said.

Some experts believe Ms Jones’s broke the law because Australia prohibits people from harming or taking native wildlife.

It is only allowed if the joey is in need of help because its mother has died, wildlife veterinarian Tania Bishop told ABC News.

Additional reporting by Simon Atkinson