An American hunting influencer has left Australia after a video she posted showing her snatching a baby wombat from its distressed mother provoked a backlash at the highest political level.
Anthony Albanese, the prime minister, said it was an “outrage” that Sam Jones, from Montana, published footage of herself seizing the joey.
“Maybe she might try some other Australian animals,” Albanese said at a press conference, when asked about the incident. “Take a baby crocodile from its mother and see how you go there. Take another animal that can actually fight back rather than stealing a baby wombat from its mother. See how you go there.”
Jones, also known as Samantha Strable, can be seen in the 34-second footage — captioned “My dream of holding a wombat has been realised!” — picking up the baby wombat from the side of the road. She runs off with the animal while its seemingly distressed mother follows.
“I caught a baby wombat!” Jones says as the joey is heard hissing.
Then she adds: “OK, mamma’s right there, and she is pissed. Let’s let them go.” She then puts the baby back on the ground.
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It is unclear where in Australia the video was taken; she has now deleted it from her social media.
“There’s never been a better day to be a baby wombat in Australia,” Tony Burke, the home affairs minister, said after a government official confirmed Jones had flown from the country voluntarily. Earlier on Thursday, Burke said that Jones’s visa was under review. “I can’t wait for Australia to see the back of this individual, I don’t expect she will return,” he said.
Her 92,000 Instagram followers have seen her seize other protected wildlife, including a native echidna, also known as a spiny anteater.
Jones, 24, has openly boasted of stabbing pigs, catching sharks and using a crossbow to kill deer..
Dr Tania Bishop, a wildlife veterinarian, told The Sydney Morning Herald that the way in which the wombat was carried in the video was concerning, and probably illegal.
“Most of their weight is in the back end of the body, so picking up any young animal — even a toddler — they can experience growth plate damage, fractures, damage to ligaments and muscles, damage to the nerve plexus,” she said.
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Jones has previously told the Cowboy State Daily in Wyoming that she bow-hunted stags in Chile and killed a wild pig with a knife in New Zealand. “I ended up getting a young sow. That was a bit intense for me, because I’m used to hunting animals from a little bit of a distance,” she said.
Jones has now made her Instagram account private after an intense backlash.
Another video depicts her posing alongside a dead deer. “Got my first chital (Axis deer),” the caption reads. “Australia is full of epic, wild deer and harvesting this beautiful stag marks my third deer species.”
Australia’s department of immigration said on Thursday that it was working through the conditions on Jones’s visa and determining whether laws had been breached.
Australian courts can impose fines of up to $236,500 (£115,000) for infringing animal cruelty laws and offenders can be jailed for up to five years.
