{"id":259270,"date":"2025-03-15T00:07:09","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T00:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/15\/us-influencer-who-snatched-baby-wombat-in-australia-apologises-after-video-sparked-outrage\/"},"modified":"2025-03-15T00:07:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T00:07:09","slug":"us-influencer-who-snatched-baby-wombat-in-australia-apologises-after-video-sparked-outrage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/15\/us-influencer-who-snatched-baby-wombat-in-australia-apologises-after-video-sparked-outrage\/","title":{"rendered":"US influencer who snatched baby wombat in Australia apologises after video sparked outrage"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/e3.365dm.com\/25\/03\/768x432\/skynews-wombat-australia-sam-jones_6855115.jpg?20250313140003&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"US influencer who snatched baby wombat in Australia apologises after video sparked outrage\" title=\"US influencer who snatched baby wombat in Australia apologises after video sparked outrage\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-component-name=\"ui-article-body\" data-highlight-intro=\"true\">\n<p>The American influencer who snatched a baby wombat from its distressed mother has said &#8220;thousands threatened&#8221; her life, and that she is &#8220;truly sorry&#8221; in an Instagram post.<\/p>\n<p>Sam Jones, who describes herself as an &#8220;outdoor enthusiast and hunter&#8221;, wrote a lengthy statement on social media, saying she was &#8220;extremely concerned&#8221; about the wombat&#8217;s health, so she ran away from the joey&#8217;s mother out of fear of attack.<\/p>\n<p>She says she &#8220;immediately&#8221; returned it to its mother.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I have done a great deal of reflection on this situation and have realised that I did not handle this situation as best as I should have (\u2026) I have learnt from this situation, and am truly sorry for the distress I have caused.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In the now-deleted video posted to her 92,000 followers on Instagram, Jones said: &#8220;I caught a baby wombat&#8221;, as a man filming her laughs.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-article-widget sdc-article-image\">\n<figure class=\"sdc-article-image__figure\">\n<div class=\"sdc-article-image__wrapper\" data-aspect-ratio=\"16\/9\"><\/div><figcaption class=\"ui-media-caption\">\n        <span class=\"u-hide-visually\">Image:<\/span><br \/>\n        <span class=\"ui-media-caption__caption-text\">The US influencer has said she is &#8216;truly sorry&#8217; for the distress caused. Pic: Sam Jones\/Instagram<br \/>\n        <\/span><br \/>\n      <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>In the video, the wombat could be seen struggling and heard hissing as its mother followed on the road behind.<\/p>\n<p>She returned the baby wombat to the roadside after several seconds.<\/p>\n<p>Jones left the country on Friday after the Australian government said it was reviewing her visa.<\/p>\n<p>Australia&#8217;s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese criticised the influencer, who sparked outrage across the country, telling reporters: &#8220;To take a baby wombat from its mother, and clearly causing distress to the mother, is just an outrage.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And, you know, I suggest to this so-called influencer, maybe she might try some other Australian animals.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Take a baby crocodile from its mother and see how you go there.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Take another animal that can actually fight back rather than stealing a baby wombat from its mother &#8211; see how you go there.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read more on Sky News:<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/trump-trade-war-tesla-warns-of-disproportionate-tariff-impact-13328372\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tesla warns of &#8216;disproportionate&#8217; tariff impact<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/economy-finds-reverse-gear-in-january-with-surprise-contraction-13328304\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">UK economy unexpectedly shrank in January<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/video\/sky-news-flies-over-the-megaberg-threatening-south-georgia-and-its-wildlife-13328298\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sky News flies over the world&#8217;s biggest iceberg<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The country&#8217;s interior minister Tony Burke said on Thursday that his department is reviewing the conditions of the American&#8217;s visa &#8211; and whether she had breached immigration law.<\/p>\n<p>The baby wombat is a protected species of marsupial found only in Australia.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Given the level of scrutiny that will happen if she ever applies for a visa again, I&#8217;ll be surprised if she even bothers,&#8221; said Mr Burke.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I can&#8217;t wait for Australia to see the back of this individual. I don&#8217;t expect she will return.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/us-influencer-who-snatched-baby-wombat-in-australia-apologises-after-video-sparked-outrage-13328858\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The American influencer who snatched a baby wombat from its distressed mother has said &#8220;thousands threatened&#8221; her life, and that she is &#8220;truly sorry&#8221; in an Instagram post. Sam Jones, who describes herself as an &#8220;outdoor enthusiast and hunter&#8221;, wrote a lengthy statement on social media, saying she was &#8220;extremely concerned&#8221; about the wombat&#8217;s health, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/25\/03\/768x432\/skynews-wombat-australia-sam-jones_6855115.jpg?20250313140003","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2598,1386,15,11932,11947,41233,14671,404,199716],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259270"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259270"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":259272,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259270\/revisions\/259272"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}