It was hard to watch. In a now-deleted Instagram reel, American influencer Sam Jones is filmed picking up a young wombat, separating it from its mother, and running with it back to the car for a pose. In the background, the distressed mother tries to follow. At one point, Jones says: “Momma’s right there and she’s pissed. Let’s let him go.”
We have spent our careers working with wildlife. Seeing a joey separated from her mother for social media content was unsettling. The encounter will have made stress levels soar for the baby and mother.
