US influencer Sam Jones, who uploaded a video of her picking a baby wombat and taking it away from its mother, has issued an apology after allegedly fleeing Australia. In her first public statement, posted on Instagram, Ms Jones clarified her intention which was to “prevent these amazing animals from being hit, and making sure the joey wasn’t in need of immediate care. I have learned from this situation, and am truly sorry for the distress I have caused.”
Ms Jones delved into the details of the incident and recalled: “When we found the mother and joey on a road, not moving, I was extremely concerned. As wombats are so often hit on Australian roads, I stopped to ensure they got off the road safely and didn’t get hit. However, as is seen from the video, when I walked up to them, the joey did not move or run off. I was concerned it may have been sick or injured, and made a snap judgement to pick up the joey and see if this was the case.”
The influencer said she ran, not to rip the joey away from its mother, but from fear, she might attack her. Her judgement was not from a place of “harm or stealing a joey.”
Though Ms Jones was excited to see a baby wombat, she “immediately returned it to its mother.”
“I ensured that the mother and joey did reunite, went off together, and that they got off the road,” she added.
Ms Jones further clarified that the video was in no way about social media or a means to get likes. It was neither staged nor done for entertainment. However, this has unlocked a threat to her life, she alleged and unleashed an attack on the Australian government.
“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,” she wrote.
Ms Jones explained that while trying to survive, wombats get in the way of landowners who produce food.
“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.”
However, these animals don’t die immediately, she claimed. “Their carcasses are then left on your public lands to rot. Your Snowy River and Kosciuszko National Park brumbys are being slaughtered by the thousands on your dime-speak to your Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about that. Loving the National Parks and Wildlife Service of Australia while being angered at me for killing feral deer for food, is hypocrisy at its finest,” she added.
In her attack on the government and citizens who condemned her act, Ms Jones also mentioned the Kangaroo, the “National animal on your coat of arms.”
“In the last 20 years, approximately 90 million kangaroos and wallabies have been legally slaughtered for commercial purposes and that number is not slowing down. Millions are legally killed each year. Are they not deserved of government protection as native species?”
Ms Jones also replied to people suggesting she visit a zoo to see a wombat. She said that breeding and keeping wild animals in captivity to be imprisoned in a zoo “for our gawking pleasure is a sin far more egregious than holding one for a moment in effort to help.”
She urged people to look at what is happening in Australia – lack of power and treatment of native wildlife – and then decide if she is a villain.
When Sam Jones Grabbed A Baby Wombat
Earlier this week, Ms Jones shared a video from an unknown location in Australia. In a now-deleted video, Ms Jones can be seen picking up the baby wombat, a protected species of marsupial found only in Australia, that is seen struggling and heard hissing as its mother follows on the road behind. The woman looks into the camera and says, “I caught a baby wombat” before placing the wombat back on the road.
NEW: US influencer Sam Jones faces deportation after she was filmed taking a baby wombat from its distressed mother.
Australia’s Immigration Minister says he is working to deport the influencer for pulling off the stunt.
“I can’t wait for Australia to see the back of this… pic.twitter.com/bielwW9we6
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 13, 2025
The video left internet users in a rage with several initiating online petitions condemning Jones’ “irresponsible and gruesome action.” One of the petitions demanded Jones be deported from the country.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said that the woman’s tourist visa was under review and his department was reviewing whether immigration law had been breached.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the influencer for pestering animal.
“To take a baby wombat from its mother, and clearly causing distress from the mother, is just an outrage,” he told reporters Thursday.
Following the outrage, Ms Jones deleted the video and made her account private. She reportedly left Australia.
Now she has again made her account public.