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An American tourist who was reportedly filmed picking up and running off with a wild baby wombat fled Australia after officials threatened to cancel her visa in reaction to criticism over the incident.
A viral video on social media purports to show Sam Jones, who has 92,000 followers on Instagram, running with the baby wombat towards a car while its distressed mother chases after her.
The video, reportedly deleted from an Instagram account that’s since been made private, and TikTok on a now-deleted account, shows a woman running across the road while holding a baby wombat.
“Just caught a baby wombat,” a man laughs off-camera, apparently referring to Jones.
“Look at the mother, chasing after her,” he laughs again, referring to the adult wombat, which chases the woman onto the road.
WOMBAT JUSTICE: U.S INFLUENCER FLEES AUSTRALIA AFTER BACKLASH
Sam Jones, a U.S influencer, has left Australia after sparking outrage by filming herself grabbing a baby wombat from its mother.
PM Anthony Albanese called the act “an outrage”, suggesting she try the same… pic.twitter.com/u5NmLZyQUw
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) March 14, 2025
It’s not clear when the video was shot, and neither is the location, but it was at night on what appears to be a country road in Australia, where most wombats reside.
Australians on social media called for Jones to be deported, and on Thursday the Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said his department was reviewing her visa, which would be canceled if she was found to have breached the conditions of her stay.
On Friday, March 14, it was confirmed Jones had voluntarily left the country, with Burke declaring: “There’s never been a better day to be a baby wombat in Australia.”
Experts say the animals in the video were common wombats, the only one of three species of the Australian marsupial which is not threatened or endangered.
A post on a new TikTok account purporting to belong to her said in part: “You have all gone crazy… the hate is currently too much for me to handle.”
Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese suggested on Thursday that Jones should try her luck with another Australian animal that was more likely to put up a fight.
“To take a baby wombat from its mother, and clearly causing distress from the mother, is just an outrage,” Albanese said.
“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.”
Ecologists said the sudden separation of the wombat and her baby, known as a joey, would have triggered stress reactions in both animals.
“Yanking a baby away from its mother, running away with it, and having the baby dangling in hands, is sort of pretty high up there in what not to do,” said Professor Barry Brook, an ecologist with the University of Tasmania.
Wombats do not attack humans, but they have incredibly strong claws they use to burrow into the ground. If used on human skin, they could cause major damage and infection, Brook said.
“It’s not a situation you or any other member of the public should put yourself in for both the animals’ sake and your own sake. And broadcasting this on social media to get likes and hits and so forth as an influencer is totally counterproductive,” he added.
Wildlife veterinarian Tanya Bishop, from the Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service (WIRES), says the video doesn’t show the animals reuniting, or if the joey sustained injuries from being carried by its front legs.
“My concern is whether or not that Joey had a temporary, painful, debilitating injury or something that could have been permanent,” she said. Bishop said wildlife officials are trying to determine where the video was shot.
