An American influencer, who was caught on camera taking a baby wombat away from its anxious mother in Australia, has expressed her deep regret over the incident. She also mentioned that she had been the target of numerous death threats in response to the video.
Samantha Strable, also known as Samantha Jones, was captured in a video happily picking up a baby wombat from the roadside while a man recording the scene laughs and comments, ‘Just caught a baby wombat.’
Wearing a short dress, Ms Strable runs to the camera as the agitated mother follows behind, as the man filming laughs: ‘Look at the mother.’
With a big smile on her face, Ms. Strable exclaims, ‘I caught a baby wombat,’ as the distressed baby animal squeaks in her arms. She eventually releases it as the mother wombat makes distressed noises nearby.
Today, the 24-year-old claimed in a lengthy Instagram statement that the animals were ‘not moving’ on the road – and that she picked it up because she was concerned it ‘may have been sick or injured’.
Ms Strable, who shares picture-perfect snapshots of herself travelling as well as graphic images of her kills while hunting, said: ‘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.
‘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.’
‘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,’ she insisted.
‘In my excitement and concern, I acted too quickly and then failed to provide necessary context to viewers online.’
In a second, dramatically worded statement, she lashed out at Australians and accused them of hypocrisy because wombats can be culled, much in the same way farmers can cull badgers in the UK.
The animals are a protected species in Australia and killing them without a permit is a criminal offence. Comments were disabled on the posts.
Ms Strable claimed ‘tens of millions of taxpayer dollars’ were spent slaughtering wombats and other native animals each year.
‘Am I a villain? Things, dead reader, are not as they seem,’ she wrote.
‘Over holding a wombat, thousands threaten my life. Let me be clear; these same people ought to understand the reality of Australia today.
‘Why, might you ask, do they kill them? Well, to feed you,’ Ms Strable continued.
‘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.’
She claimed it was ‘hypocritical’ for Aussies to look down upon her given millions of kangaroos were ‘slaughtered’ each year for commercial purposes.
‘Millions are legally killed each year. Are they not deserved of government protection as native species?’ she said.
‘If you don’t believe me, take a look around the next time you go to Woolworths where you will see kangaroo flesh sold as both pet and human food.’
She also took aim at Anthony Albanese, who suggested she try picking up a baby crocodile or another animal who could ‘fight back’.
‘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,’ Ms Strable continued.
‘Then, decide for yourself, if I, a person who certainly makes mistakes, am really your villain.’
Describing her now notorious encounter with the baby wombat, Ms Strable said she had made a ‘snap decision’ to try to save its life after finding it by the side of the road and fearing it was in danger.
‘When we found the mother and joey on a road, not moving, I was extremely concerned,’ she wrote.
‘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.’
Ms Strable said she never intended to harm or steal the joey, and ensured the animal wasn’t injured before making sure it reunited with its mother.
In the footage, Ms Strable was seen running with the joey in her hands away from its mother who was clearly distressed.
Her Australian friend filming the encounter was heard laughing with glee as the baby wombat wiggled uncomfortably in her arms.
‘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,’ Ms Strable said.
‘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.
‘I have learned from this situation, and am truly sorry for the distress I have caused.’
Her post ended with the hunter insisting the video was not to get likes on social media.
‘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,’ she said.
Ms Strable’s almost-1000 word retort came within hours of her fleeing the country.
Government sources revealed on Friday she departed Australia and is understood to have flown back to the US.
‘There’s never been a better day to be a baby wombat in Australia,’ Immigration Minister Tony Burke told Daily Mail Australia on Friday.
The federal government began working to deport her after wildlife service WIRES said Ms Strable had violated Australia’s biosecurity and animal welfare laws, but she jumped before being pushed.
But despite being an avid wildlife hunter – posting multiple selfies with wild creatures she has killed – Ms Strable tried to get a job with animal rights group PETA.
They rejected her application after a background check discovered she was an ‘avid hunter and carnivore’.
A second controversial video of Ms Strable also resurfaced on Thursday, sparking further outrage.
The clip showed her handling an echidna, which appeared to be in the wild, and showing it off to her almost 100,000 followers last month.
Despite admitting in a 2023 newspaper interview that she thought hunting was ‘pretty gross’ when she was a child, Ms Strable went on to fall in love with it.
She changed her mind after doing a hunting mentorship program when she shot a deer and then tasted some of the cooked tenderloin from her kill.
Raised in Great Falls, Montana, Ms Strable was born into a Christian family with four siblings, all of them home-schooled but high achievers.
Samantha’s younger sister, Kimberly, stepped away from California Intercontinental University with a doctorate in Business Administration at just 17 years old.
By 2020, Ms Strable was basing herself in Pinedale, Wyoming, for seasonal work during the northern summers, and then flying to the southern hemisphere to hunt during the northern winters.
Her adventures included killing a wild pig with a knife in New Zealand and stalking red deer with a bow in Chile.
