An American influencer is facing calls to be deported from Australia after she snatched a baby wombat from its mother. Sam Jones, a self-proclaimed “wildlife biologist and environmental scientist” posted a video to Instagram of her grabbing the marsupial and then running across the road away from its mother while dangling the joey, the Independent reported. An Australian man can be heard cackling in the background of the video, which has since been deleted from Instagram, saying: “Look at the mother, it’s chasing after her!” While the joey made distressed sounds, Jones says in the video “I caught a baby wombat!” She later released the young wombat, saying, “OK mama’s right there and she is p***ed, let’s let him go,” before crossing the road to return him. According to an Australian radio station 2GB, her caption for the video was “My dream of holding a wombat has been realized! Baby and mom slowly waddled back off together into the bush.” Although she also added in the caption that the baby and mother wombat were “safely united,” her combined 100,000 followers from TikTok and Instagram condemned Jones. A WIRES Wildlife Vet, Dr. Tania Bishop, predicted that the eight-month-old wombat is at an age where it relies on its mother for protection “at all times.” Meanwhile, Jones' followers called for her to be deported and banned from Australia. “Arrest. Fine. Deport. Ban.” one user said.
Read it at The Independent
