US influencer Sam Jones hits back at wombat controversy, claims Aussies ‘blind’ to the truth about wildlife

An American influencer who fled Australia after a barrage of backlash for snatching a baby wombat has hit back at Aussies, claiming that when it comes to our precious native wildlife, “things are not as they seem”.

“Over holding a wombat, thousands threaten my life,” she wrote in a social media post.

“Let me be clear; these same people ought to understand the reality of Australia today. For the readers that are so angered by my mistaken attempt to help and that I am a hunter — do not be blind to your country.”

Samantha Strable — who is known online as Sam Jones — sparked outrage after now deleted vision of her picking up a wombat joey and running down a road towards a camera with it went viral.

The footage showed Ms Strable, a self-described “wildlife biologist and environmental scientist”, catching the joey during the night at an unidentified roadside and rushing away with it while it tries to wriggle out of her arms, clearly distressed, as the mother frets nearby.

The video, filmed by an Australian man who can be heard laughing, was posted to Ms Strable’s Instagram account @samstrays_somewhere on Tuesday, leading to backlash and calls for her to be deported.

In the horrifying footage, the man filming Ms Jones can be heard saying: “Look at the mother, it’s chasing after her.”

Holding the hissing animal up for the camera, Ms Jones then says: “I caught a baby wombat. Mumma’s right there, she is p*****, let’s let him go.”

Ms Strable has always claimed no harm came to the joey or its mother and, after fleeing the country on Friday, posted a lengthy statement to Instagram, admitting it was a mistake to pick up the wombat joey but she did so out of concern.

“When we found the mother and joey on a road, not moving, I was extremely concerned,” Ms Strable said in the statement.

“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.

“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.”

She wrote she’d “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”.

“I have learned from this situation, and am truly sorry for the distress I have caused” Ms Strable went on.

“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.”

‘Am I a villain?’

In a follow-up post, Ms Strable asked “Am I a villain?” going on to explain what she had viewed as the true nature of how Australians really treat their native wildlife.

“Let’s start with wombats — The Australian government allows and permits the slaughter of wombats,” she wrote.

“Thousands each year are shot, poisoned to suffer, and trapped legally. Landowners rip up wombat burrows with heavy machinery, poison them with fumigation, and shoot them whenever they can. Quietly, of course, so as not to face the wrath that has come upon me.

“Why, might you ask, do they kill them? Well, to feed you. The landowner is trying to survive, to raise you the lamb for your dinner table, the grapes for your wine, and the produce for your salads. Wombats get in the way of this, through putting their holes and tunnels across the land, creating hazard for livestock, and turning up the ground to eat roots. The wombat knows no better, as it too, is merely trying to survive.”

‘How about the beloved Kangaroo?’

Ms Strable backed up her claims with Australian Government Department of Agriculture research, noting the cruelty involved in the government’s animal culling programs.

“Your government further spends tens of millions of taxpayer dollars annually to fly around in helicopters and shoot beautiful horses, deer, and pigs out its windows,” Ms Strable said.

“A swift death is often not afforded to these animals. The Australian Government Department of Agriculture’s research showed a percentage of animals end up painfully wounded and stated ‘Animal-welfare outcomes could be improved with a national-level standard operating procedure requiring helicopters to fly back over shot animals and repeatedly shoot animals in the head or thorax.’ Sound kind to you?

“Your Snowy River and Kosciuszko National Park brumbys are being slaughtered by the thousands on your dime —speak to your Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about that. Loving the National Parks and Wildlife Service of Australia while being angered at me for killing feral deer for food, is hypocrisy at its finest.”

Ms Strable also dismissed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s concern for wombats, adding animal welfare advocates needed to shift their focus. She later accused Aussies of turning a blind eye to it all, including the slaughter of millions of Kangaroos.

“How about the beloved Kangaroo, the National animal on your coat of arms?,” Strable asked.

“In the last 20 years, approximately 90 million kangaroos and wallabies have been legally slaughtered for commercial purposes and that number is not slowing down. If you don’t believe me, take a look around the next time you go to Woolworth’s where you will see kangaroo flesh sold as both pet and human food.”

She implored Aussies to take a good hard look at what is really going on.

“While the prime minister wishes harm on me for picking up a wombat, I implore you to take a good, hard, look at what is currently being done in Australia surrounding the real issues it faces, the lack of power for tens of thousands of Aussies, and the treatment of its native wildlife.

“Then, decide for yourself, if I, a person who certainly makes mistakes, am really your villain.”