A hunting influencer is in hot water after capturing a baby wombat for a photo opportunity. She took the baby animal from its mother after seeing it on the side of the road.
Sam Jones has following on social media sites like Instagram. She shared the video in a Reel on the site. But she deleted it after garnering controversy for the act. In the video, she grabs the wombat from the road and runs across the road to her travel companion to get a photo. The mother gives chase.
After getting the photo, the influencer releases the wombat back to its mother. Wombats are consider protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act. It's illegal to capture one with penalties reaching $148,237. Violators also face up to 7 years in prison.
Influencer Draws Backlash Over Wombat
WIRES Wildlife Vet Dr Tania Bishop condemned the influencer's actions. She said the wombat was an at-foot joey and needed its mother. She warned the influencer could have injured the animal.
"It would be with the mum at all times, relying on her for protection," she said. "When she's running, it's not supported underneath, and wombats are incredibly solid, especially in their back end, so there's every chance she could have fractured the upper humerus, or the top of the arms, or caused damage to the shoulders. You can see the joey swinging, but it's also hissing and crying out, which is a sign of extreme distress."
She added, "You can also see the extreme distress the mother is in, chasing her across the road. This is just an extremely unacceptable way to treat our wildlife, which is already under incredible pressure right non."
Following the incident, the influencer got a lot of backlash online. She ended up deleting the video of the wombat. Bishop suggested that the influencer should have just took a picture rather than touching the animal.
"But I would be very doubtful that many Australians watching that video would consider it acceptable at all," she said. "They're already under stress, we don't need to do anything more to put them in danger. We need to enjoy them while we still can in the wild."
