I was trying to save baby wombat, claims influencer

An American influencer who sparked outrage after filming herself taking a baby wombat away from its mother has defended her actions and said she was only trying to get it off the road.

- BRYONY GOOCH

Sam Jones, who shares hunting and outdoor content with her 95,000 followers on Instagram, had been threatened with deportation after she posted a video on her Instagram account of her laughing as she ran over to a car with the baby with the wombat joey in her hands while its mother chased after them.

“I caught a baby wombat!” Jones says in the now-deleted video, as the baby hissed and wriggled in distress. She eventually put the baby down on the roadside near where the mother was. The video sparked a backlash in Australia, with prime minister Anthony Albanese calling it an “outrage” as he challenged her to “take a baby crocodile from its mother and see how you go there”.

Ms Jones, from Montana, shared a statement with followers in which she sought to defend her actions, saying she was “extremely concerned” to see the wombats “on a road, not moving”.