[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
An influencer facing backlash for taking a baby wombat from its mother has finally issued an apology… But is it a good one?
If you haven’t seen the video by now — American hunter Sam Jones was in Australia with her friend when they spotted two wombats on a dark road — a mom and her baby. Sam can be seen in the clip running over to the mother before scooping up the joey in her arms and running away, leaving the poor momma in distress. Sam then jumps up onto the car so the wombat, who’s chasing her to try and get her baby back, can’t get to her. The little one even starts to cry!
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Throughout the whole video you can hear the momma making distressed noises as the influencer laughs. She even points out how “pissed” the wombat is at her. It’s a truly sickening watch. Why would she do that to a wild animal?!
We mean, at least she gave the baby back, but what an awful thing to do — much less to post for all to see! Watch the now-deleted clip for yourself (below):
American hunting influencer Sam Jones is facing fierce backlash after taking a baby wombat from it's mother while visiting Australia. pic.twitter.com/bGUvuxWGX7
— The Project (@theprojecttv) March 12, 2025
As you can imagine, the influencer faced some pretty heavy backlash from the stunt. Even Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese called her out! We’re talking internationally condemned action here!
Well, now she’s issued a two-part “apology” — if you want to call it that. It’s more of a deflection to the Australian government. The first half has already been deleted, as she was facing even more backlash, but it read:
“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. I ran, not to rip the joey away from its mother, but from fear she might attack me. The snap judgement I made in these moments was never from a place of harm or stealing a joey.”
Uh… If that’s the case, why was her original video on the ‘gram captioned about her “dream of holding a wombat”? Plus, in what part of the video was she inspecting it for injuries? Hmm…
Regardless, she continued:
“While I was unbelievably excited to see such an amazing animal, I looked it over quickly and 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. I have done a great deal of reflection on this situation and have realized that I did not handle this situation as best as I should have. Regardless, my only intent was to prevent these amazing animals from being hit, and making sure the joey wasn’t in need of immediate care.”
So then… why record and post it? If the whole thing was about keeping the animals safe, and it maybe didn’t go great… why post it?
The social media star maintained she didn’t do ANY of this for likes or attention:
“I have learned from this situation, and am truly sorry for the distress I have caused I want to make it absolutely clear that this was never about social media or getting likes. This was not staged, nor was it done for entertainment. In my excitement and concern, I acted too quickly and then failed to provide necessary context to viewers online.”
But she didn’t stop there. The second part of her apology was… calling out the Australian Department of Agriculture for their practices on animal slaughtering? Which is — you know — exactly what hunters do. She’s got videos of herself with animals she’s killed right there on her page! Ew!
So, what point is she trying to make exactly? She should be able to traumatize a mother wombat because other people kill animals in Australia? Don’t get us wrong, animal protection is a noble and important cause, but this feels like an icky deflection. Especially with how she begins…
“Am I a villain? Things, dear reader, are not as they seem.”
WTF does she think she’s writing? A Disney live action reimagining of Captain Hook as the real hero? Anyway, here’s that whole statement, which contrasts her actions with the government spending taxpayer money on killing animals, etc… without ever actually defending her own actions:
What are your thoughts on this situation, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF (below).
[Image via Sam Jones/Instagram]
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