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Baby wombat-snatching US influencer apologises and says she was ‘concerned’ for Australian animal

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Calling all influencers: never pick up a wild animal. Especially a baby wombat.

Why wombats can be dangerous

The threat to wombats

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A video has been circulating of a woman taking a baby wombat from its mother. Here’s what experts want us to know about the dangers of interfering with wildlife, even if it seems innocuous.

Most people know not to come between a mother grizzly bear and her cubs. But what about a mother wombat and her wombatlet?

Wombats are short, squat marsupials native to Australia. And if you’ve seen them in the news as of late, it’s because American tourist and social media influencer Sam Jones posted a video of herself snatching a wombat joey away from its mother. Jones proceeded to run down a dark road with the frightened creature.

While the influencer eventually released the joey, the incident sparked an outcry from wildlife experts everywhere. The video has since been deleted.

Interfering with wildlife is a practice that is continually discouraged by experts, including Jack Ashby, a zoologist and author of Platypus Matters: The Extraordinary Story of Australian Mammals.

(This unnerving photo reminds us why we shouldn’t feed bears.)

“Australia has genuinely incredible wildlife—in my opinion, the most wonderful in the world. And people travel there to see it,” he says. “But this is obviously not the way to interact with that wildlife.”

While wombats may appear cute and cuddly, they are wild animals that, over time, have developed ways to defend themselves against predators.

(Wombats have buns of steel—and they poop in cubes. Here’s why.)

“We’re talking about [77 pounds] of pure muscle, about the same as a boxer dog,” says Joanna Bagniewska, a behavioral ecologist at Oxford University. “If one pushes you, you will fall. I am speaking from experience, of both wombats and boxers.”

Wombats have sharp, rodent-like incisor teeth that never stop growing. And while a wombat bite is unlikely to turn fatal, it can be quite painful and lead to infection.

The animal also has lengthy claws, which they normally use to dig long, subterranean burrows in which they can escape predators and avoid the Australian heat.

“Sadly, wombats across much of their range suffer from massive infections of sarcoptic mange, a deeply unpleasant burrowing mite,” says Ashby, who is also the assistant director of the Museum of Zoology at the University of Cambridge. In addition to the risk of wombats attacking humans, this is yet another reason to keep away from them and other wild animals.

(How to survive an encounter with wildlife—from bears to bison.)

While common wombats are not endangered, they are protected by Australian law. And experts agree that even a brief encounter with a human can have negative impacts on the animal’s wellbeing.

Swinging a baby wombat in the air, like Jones does in the video, risks damage to the animal’s spine. “Wombats are very much terrestrial animals, [and] hanging a few feet off the ground is not a natural position for them,” says Bagniewska.

Taking a young wombat from its mother, or vice versa, can also risk permanent separation.

“Snatching the baby and running off will cause real fear and stress for both the baby and the mother, and we can see that clearly in the video,” says Ashby. “Anyone who has a pet cat or dog will know that intelligent mammals can suffer long-term impacts from traumatic events.”

Bagniewska understands the excitement that comes with encountering a baby wombat, but at the end of the day, it’s best to leave the animal undisturbed and admire them from afar.

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