A baby wombat, crying in distress, was taken from their mother on a roadside in Australia, seemingly all for a social media influencer to get more views.
Montana-based influencer Sam Jones has come under heavy criticism after posting a video in which she removes a baby wombat from their mother in Australia, according to the BBC.
In the widely shared video, Jones grabs the baby wombat from the road and runs toward the camera, the helpless infant swinging wildly in her arms while the mother chases after them. Jones is then shown holding the wombat beside a car as the baby cries out in distress and struggles to get away.
“I caught a baby wombat,” Jones says.
The mother is shown briefly behind them but then seems to walk off into the bush as Jones continues to hold the baby for several more moments. When she finally places the baby back on the road, the mother is nowhere to be seen.
It remains unknown if this baby ever reunited with their mother.
Taking any baby animal away from their mother is a highly stressful experience for both animals and shows a complete disregard for wildlife. In this case, it was all for the sake of receiving likes on social media.
“The flat-out stress can be amazing. An animal can die of that kind of stress,” a wildlife expert told ABC News.
Jones’s Instagram features additional videos and photos of her handling wildlife, including “picking up a wild echidna, a hedgehog, and pulling a baby shark out of a rock pool.”
No animal should be caused distress — and certainly not for social media likes.
Lady Freethinker has been fighting against social media cruelty for years and will continue to demand that platforms, including Meta, which operates Instagram where this disturbing video was posted, eliminates content that endorses or celebrates all types of animal cruelty.
If you haven’t already, please take a moment to sign our petition to urge Meta to take action against social media animal cruelty.
