Influencer Kicked Out of Australia After Stealing Baby Wombat Crossing Road From Its Mother
Perhaps Sammantha Strable (who goes by Sam Jones) set up her outdoor-enthusiast, hunter-themed Instagram with the best of intentions. But after a series of poor choices, she has become a viral meme—and not in a good way.
Strable was traveling in Australia last March when she stopped by the roadside. An unnamed man laughed and filmed a now-viral video. In the video, Strable found a mother wombat protecting a baby (often called a joey). She ran up to the animals, grabbed the baby by its front legs, and lifted it away from the mother. Then she ran off shouting, “I caught a baby wombat.”
She eventually set the baby down. Then she posted the video. It went viral, and conservationists were not impressed.
What Australian officials did next
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said, “I can’t wait for Australia to see the back of this individual, I don’t expect she will return.” He wasn’t bluffing. Officials reviewed her visa, and she left the country. In the midst of the backlash, she even canceled her social media accounts.
Yolandi Vermaak, founder of the animal-care charity Wombat Rescue, analyzed the incident. “My biggest concern is that we didn’t actually see mom and baby getting reunited. When she put it down, it looked disoriented. It was turned away from where the mother was last seen. So we don’t know if mom and baby actually found each other again.”
Back home, Strable has been arrested on unrelated legal troubles. She’s charged with eight misdemeanors, including two counts of taking wildlife without a license. She’s also charged with nonresident hunting without a guide in a wilderness area after declaring she was a Wyoming resident on a hunting license despite residing in Montana.