An American social media personality upset Australians by grabbing a baby wombat from what appeared to be its distressed mother and fled the country on Friday, according to officials.
In a video shared on Instagram earlier this week, the woman was shown picking up the hissing baby wombat before running and announcing to the camera, “I just caught a baby wombat.” The post was later removed from her account.
The video captured the mother wombat chasing after her joey in the dark. The woman, identified by Australian media as U.S. outdoor enthusiast Sam Jones, eventually placed the animal back on the roadside.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke commented on her departure, saying, “There’s never been a better day to be a wombat in Australia.”
Earlier, the minister confirmed her tourist visa was under review after the video went viral. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also criticized her actions, calling them unacceptable.
“Taking a baby wombat from its mother and clearly stressing the mother is outrageous,” he said during a press briefing on Thursday. He added, “If this so-called influencer is keen on Australian wildlife, maybe she should try picking up a baby crocodile and see how that goes.”
Unlike kangaroos and koalas, wombats spend much of their time in underground burrows that can include several entrances and stretch up to 100 metres (325 feet) in length.
Despite their short legs, wombats are strong diggers thanks to their broad feet and sharp claws. These animals, roughly the size of a medium dog, can grow up to 90 cm (3 feet) long and weigh up to 40 kg (88 pounds). They have flat faces, small ears, and large noses.
After raising her young, a mother wombat may leave her burrow to join another group. Her joey, still too small to dig its own home, often inherits the burrow, according to the Wombat Foundation, a non-profit based in Australia.
In response to the outrage Sam Jones posted a scathing response calling Australians hypocrites.
Am I a villain?
Things, dear reader, are not as they seem.
Over holding a wombat, thousands threaten my life.
Let me be clear; these same people ought to understand the reality of Australia today. For the readers that are so angered by my mistaken attempt to help and that I am a hunter—do not be blind to your country.
Let’s start with wombats—
The Australian government allows and permits the slaughter of wombats. Thousands each year are shot, poisoned to suffer, and trapped legally. Landowners rip up wombat burrows with heavy machinery, poison them with fumigation, and shoot them whenever they can. Quietly, of course, so as not to face the wrath that has come upon me.
Why, might you ask, do they kill them? Well, to feed you. The landowner is trying to survive, to raise you the lamb for your dinner table, the grapes for your wine, and the produce for your salads. Wombats get in the way of this, through putting their holes and tunnels across the land, creating hazard for livestock, and turning up the ground to eat roots. The wombat knows no better, as it too, is merely trying to survive.
Your government further spends tens of millions of taxpayer dollars annually to fly around in helicopters and shoot beautiful horses, deer, and pigs out its windows. A swift death is often not afforded to these animals.
The Australian Government Department of Agriculture’s research showed a percentage of animals end up painfully wounded and stated ‘Animal-welfare outcomes could be improved with a national-level standard operating procedure requiring helicopters to fly back over shot animals and repeatedly shoot animals in the head or thorax.’ Sound kind to you?….
The complete statement is in the photos:
https://invasives.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/L001-Final-release-revision.pdf
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/wildlife-trade/natives/wild-harvest/kangaroo-wallaby-statistics/kangaroo-prior-1997
https://animalsaustralia.org/our-work/shooting-and-hunting/kangaroo-shooting/
