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A DISGRACED American influencer has fled Australia after viral footage showing her kidnapping a baby wombat caused the Prime Minister to blast her behaviour.
Montana-based hunting influencer Sam Jones left the country on Friday morning after her social media post ignited an online fury among Australians.
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Aussie PM Anthony Albanese even hit back at the woman, as he threatened: "Try taking a baby crocodile from its mother and see how you go there."
Home affairs minister Tony Burke also said that immigration authorities were checking her visa conditions to see if she had breached them.
The minister said that he couldn't “wait to see the back of this individual” and authorities were “working through the conditions” on the woman’s visa to determine “whether immigration law has been breached”.
The defiant minister added: “There has never been a better day to be a baby wombat in Australia.”
An online petition also gained over 30,000 signatures demanding that the influencer be deported from the country
According to the BBC, however, Jones was not charged or deemed a threat to the country, and reports that the government might revoke her visa have not come true yet.
Shocking footage of Jones kidnapping a baby wombat from its mother sparked online fury in a social media post which has since been deleted.
In the video, she approaches the wombat joey as it walks with its mother before she suddenly takes it and runs back to the cameraman.
The wombat can be seen struggling whilst its alarmed mother runs after the influencer.
Jones proclaims whilst she holds the distressed animal: "I caught a baby wombat!"
The cameraman even points out in the video: "Look at the mother, it's chasing after her."
Jones replies in the video: “OK mama’s right there and she is p***ed, let’s let him go."
The post was met with an influx of backlash - but this is not the first time the social media star has caught attention before for her animal interactions.
Cowboy State Daily reported her goal of hunting her first black bear during spring bear season in Wyoming, and described her “stalking red stags with a bow in Chile”, and “slaying a wild pig with a knife in New Zealand”.
Who is Sam Jones?
Sam Jones, from Montana, U.S., is a hunting influencer with nearly 100,000 followers on Instagram.
She describes herself as an "outdoor enthusiast" and a "hunter".
The star has since deleted her controversial post and made her account private.
She also claims to be a "wildlife biologist" and "environmental scientist" with an MSc degree.
She has since deleted her TikTok account and made her Instagram private.
A new account which claims to be Jones was set up, and it said she was "really sorry about the wombat incident" and that it was a "mistake".
And on Thursday, the account posted another message saying that the "hate was too much for me to handle".
The account added: “You guys are insane. I get hundreds of death threats for picking up an animal. WT*? Imagine someone just goes up to your child and curses at them? Let’s have some respect.”
Responding to the backlash of her more recent engagement with the helpless wombat, Jones defended herself and claimed she only held the joey momentarily before returning it to its mother.
She wrote: "For everyone that's worried and unhappy, the baby was carefully held for ONE minute in total and then released back to mum.
"They wandered back off into the bush together completely unharmed. I didn't think I would be able to catch it in the first place, and took an opportunity to appreciate a really incredible animal up close."
Livid Australians demanded that Jones be reported to the Australian Department of Home Affairs "so they can ban her from ever stepping foot in Australia again", before she eventually fled.
She was also slammed by RSCPA Australia who said the footage showed a “blatant disregard” for native wildlife, and that the distress to the baby and its mum caused by the “callous act” was clear.
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English (US) · 