US influencer yanks baby wombat from mom on side of Australia road, shocking video shows
UPDATE: Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, criticized the “so-called influencer” in recent comments to reporters, Sky News reported.
“To take a baby wombat from its mother, and clearly causing distress from the mother, is just an outrage,” Albanese told the outlet. “Take a baby crocodile from its mother and see how you go there.”
Tony Burke, the Australian Home Affairs Minister, said Jones’ current visa was under review, and his department was checking whether Jones broke immigration laws, Reuters reported.
“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 told the outlet. “I can’t wait for Australia to see the back of this individual, I don’t expect she will return.
The original story continues below.
An American wildlife influencer is facing backlash from Australian officials after she posted a video of herself grabbing a baby wombat from its mother on the side of the road.
Sam Jones, who goes by the name @samstrays_somewhere on Instagram, was seen in a now-deleted Instagram reel picking up a small wombat and running back to a vehicle with the animal, holding it by its front arms as a larger wombat chases after her.
Her location was not identified in the video.
“I caught a baby wombat!” Jones says in the video, shared by Australian news outlets and wildlife officials.
Australian news outlet 9 News shared the video on March 12.
McClatchy News reached out to Jones and did not immediately receive a response.
The small wombat screams out, and Jones notices the larger wombat, identified in the video as the baby’s mother, coming up behind her, the video shows.
Jones carries the wombat back toward the edge of the road, but the video cuts off before it can show whether the animal was successfully and safely reunited with its mom.
“My dream of holding a baby wombat has been realized!” the Montana-based influencer said in the video’s caption, according to Sky News Australia. “Baby and mum were safely united and slowly waddled back off together into the bush. Wombats are such an incredible and TOUGH species!”
Jones’ Instagram account boasting more than 92,000 followers has since been set private, but her Instagram biography says she is an “outdoor enthusiast & hunter,” and “wildlife biologist & environmental scientist” with a master’s degree.
The video sparked outrage in Australian citizens and wildlife officials alike, with some calling for her deportation from the country or the rescinding of a travel visa she may have been issued.
Yolandi Vermaak, operator of a nonprofit wombat rescue, reposted the video on Instagram and said “the baby was screaming in absolute terror and distress” as the mother wombat followed her baby.
“Why anyone could think it’s ok and even funny to inflict such terror on a baby animal and its mum is absolutely beyond me,” Vermaak wrote. “I am so angry. This has been reported so hopefully something happens and I do hope that people will think twice before doing anything like this.”
It is not clear whether any charges will be filed against Jones’ or if she is still in Australia.
“That was a completely dependent joey on the mum. It’s at her side all the time for both milk and protection,” Tania Bishop, a wildlife veterinarian with the Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “Also the way [Jones] picked up the joey by the forearms very easily could have caused damage to the muscles, tendons, nerves, shoulders and upper arms. It’s very distressing because we didn’t get to see whether the joey was OK afterwards or whether there was any sort of permanent damage.”
Both Vermaak and Wombat Protection Society Director Jen Mattingley pointed out that the wombats could have had mange, resulting in slow movement that could have made it easier for the baby to be picked up, according to ABC.
Mange is fatal without treatment, both wombat experts said, and their cases needed to be reported.
Bishop told 9 News the joey was clearly in distress, and while it may have come away unharmed physically, there could be significant psychological damage to the baby.
“That’s the joey desperately calling for the mum and a pain stress response,” Bishop told the outlet. “And the mum risking her own safety crossing a road to come to the predator that’s just taken her joey away, indicates just how much wildlife mums really do care for their young.”
This story was originally published March 12, 2025 at 11:31 AM with the headline "US influencer yanks baby wombat from mom on side of Australia road, shocking video shows."
