The scandal erupted after Sam Jones shared a video of herself grabbing a baby wombat from the side of the road while its panicked mother frantically chased after her, per BBC News.

\The influencer grabbed a baby wombat. Credit: Tommy Chan / 500px / Getty

As she grinned at the camera, holding the visibly distressed joey, she declared: “I caught a baby wombat!”

However, the wild animal hissed in distress, a clear warning sign that it was terrified.

Moments later, Jones released the joey, acknowledging: “OK, mom is right there…and she is p***ed. Alright, let’s let him go.”

While Jones later claimed she only picked the baby up because she feared it was sick, the video’s lighthearted tone and the fact that she ran with the wombat in hand immediately triggered outrage across Australia.

Australian politicians did not hold back in their condemnation of the influencer.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the act an “outrage”, sarcastically suggesting that Jones try her stunt with a more dangerous animal: “Take a baby crocodile from its mother and see how you go there. Take another animal that can actually fight back rather than stealing a baby wombat from its mother.”

Meanwhile, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said his department was investigating whether Jones had violated biosecurity and animal welfare laws, hinting at possible deportation.

“Either way, given the level of scrutiny that will happen if she ever applies for a visa again, I’ll be surprised if she even bothers.

I can’t wait for Australia to see the back of this individual, I don’t expect she will return.”

However, before the government could act, Jones left Australia of her own accord.

Following her departure, Burke took a final dig at the influencer, telling the Daily Mail: “There’s never been a better day to be a baby wombat in Australia.”

After fleeing the country, Jones issued a three-page statement on Instagram, defending her actions and criticizing the Australian government.

She insisted that she only intervened because she was worried for the animals’ safety, writing: “I was concerned it may have been sick or injured and made a snap judgment 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 judgment I made in these moments was never from a place of harm or stealing a joey.”

Jones claimed she immediately returned the baby to its mother and watched them walk away together.

She also admitted that she could have handled the situation better, saying: “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.”

However, she firmly rejected accusations that the stunt was done for social media clout, stating: “This was never about social media or getting likes. This was not staged, nor was it done for entertainment.”

While many expected Jones to issue an apology and move on, she instead launched an attack on Australia’s own treatment of wildlife – claiming that the government sanctions the killing of wombats and other animals while turning her into a scapegoat.

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.”

Jones also accused the Australian government of spending taxpayer money on helicopter hunts to kill wild horses, deer, and pigs, leaving animal carcasses to rot on public lands.

She even challenged Prime Minister Albanese directly, saying: “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.”

Jones concluded her statement by urging Australians to reexamine their country’s real issues, stating: “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…

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