"Outrage should not be selective": Wombat snatcher speaks out

After Sam Jones, the US tourist and influencer with a penchant for questionable decision-making, managed to unite Australians in collective outrage by snatching up a baby wombat and posting it to Instagram, she has since fled the country and is now broadcasting her redemption arc from an undisclosed overseas location.

“I will learn from this moment, and move forward. I accept accountability for my own actions, yet refuse to be used as a scapegoat for a far greater, far more uncomfortable reality,” she said in a video statement. 

And to be honest, she may have a point. While Australians were busy sharpening their pitchforks, Jones decided to flip the script. But instead of doubling down on her wombat-related blunder, she’s turning the outrage into a broader conversation about Australia’s wildlife management.

“If this situation has proven anything, it’s that Australians care deeply about their wildlife – and that is something I intensely admire,” she said, presumably while updating her LinkedIn profile to include “Wombat Awareness Advocate”.

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Jones highlighted that in 2023 alone, over 1.2 million native animals were legally culled in Australia, including 3,558 wombats, 580,695 native birds, and 419,120 kangaroos and wallabies. Suddenly, her temporary wombat custody battle seems downright insignificant.

And she’s not wrong - Australia’s track record with wildlife is complicated. We have a long history of government-sanctioned animal culls, from the infamous emu war (which the emus won, by the way) to the more recent permits allowing landowners to eliminate endangered species deemed inconvenient. Five years ago, a South Australian landholder was granted permission to kill 200 rare hairy-nosed wombats before having a change of heart. Meanwhile, New South Wales’ most crucial population of koalas is being displaced by development, and even Tasmania’s black swans aren’t safe from culling laws.

“Consider applying the same momentum used to condemn me toward examining the laws that allow for the legal slaughter of the very species and wombats people so deeply wish to protect,” Jones urged. “Outrage should not be selective.”

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Again, she has a point. Outrage shouldn’t be selective – though, ideally, neither should common sense. So while Sam Jones may have momentarily confused a wombat for a TikTok prop, she’s also inadvertently shone a light on a bigger issue. Whether we are willing to pivot our anger from one rogue tourist to an entire government policy, however, remains to be seen.

One thing is certain: that baby wombat will grow up with an incredible story to tell.

Images: Instagram