An American influencer who was filmed while moving a wild baby from his mother in distress in Australia said that she was “really sorry” and received thousands of death threats about the incident.
Sam Jones, who qualifies as “outdoor and Hunter passionate”, was filmed by picking up the Joey on the side of a road, while laughing and running towards a car, while the mother pursues them.
It sparked a massive reaction, with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese challenging her to “take a baby crocodile from her mother and see how you go”.
In a long declaration on her Instagram page, Jones says that she was trying to get the animals safely from the road.
She says, as we can see in the video, that the mother comes out of the road, but the baby does not do so, and Jones picks it up. She says she crossed the road “so as not to tear Joey away from her mother, but fear, she could attack me.”
“The instant judgment that I brought at these times has never been a place of evil or stealing a Joey,” said the press release.
She underlines that he was “not staged, and this was not done for entertainment”, and in her excitement of the moment, “acted too quickly and did not provide the necessary context to online viewers”.
In the second part of his declaration, Jones launches a scathing attack on the animal laws of Australia, in particular books, kangaroos, horses, deer and pigs.
Australia has various slaughter laws and regulations that arouse controversy and divide the nation.
Wombats, from Australia, are a protected species, but permits can be obtained to reduce them if they are deemed necessary.
The anger that ripples Australia was so strong that the Minister of Internal Affairs, Tony Burke, said that his department examined if he could revoke the Jones visa. However, the BBC understands that it has left the country of its own will.
Jones, who is also called Samantha Stable, has nearly 95,000 subscribers and describes himself as an “outdoor and Hunter passionate” on her Instagram profile. She has since removed the Wombat position.
