The US hunting influencer who sparked anger in Australia after grabbing a baby wombat from his mother said he was checking whether Home Minister Tony Burke violated the terms of the visa.
Government sources told the Guardian that Montana-based Sam Jones left the country Friday morning.
Burke, who is also immigration minister, said Thursday that he “cannot wait to see this individual’s back,” and that authorities “work through conditions” on Jones’ visas to determine whether or not the immigration law was violated.
The Guardian understands that review was still ongoing when Jones made the decision to leave the country.
Burke said Friday: “There was never a better day to become a baby wombat in Australia.”
Jones shared on Instagram that he was approaching himself, then grabbed him while Wombat Joey walked with his mother in an unknown location.
She then ran towards the camera with Joey, followed by her unseemly mother’s wombat, which circled in the background. Joey hugged it and said to the camera, and Joey hissed and shrieked. Joey was then released from the side of the road.
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Jones’ actions were “anger” and suggested that he “take the baby crocodile from his mother and see how you can get there.”
RSCPA Australia said the footage shows a “blatant neglect” of native wildlife, revealing the pain of Joey and his mother caused by “cold conduct.”
The Instagram account that Jones shared the footage was set to private, and the Tiktok account has also disappeared. The footage sparked thousands of angry comments on social media sites where the clips were widely re-shared.
A new Tiktok account claiming it was created by Jones after he was previously “banned” has posted two messages. The Guardian was unable to confirm whether the account was authentic.
In one message, the account creator said, “I’m really sorry about the Wombat incident,” and “that was a mistake.”
In another message posted midnight on Thursday, the account creator wrote to “people fans and dislikes” that “too many for me to handle.”
“You guys are insane,” the account said. “I’m getting hundreds of DEA** threats to pick up animals. wt*? Imagine someone climbing up to your child and cursing them? Let’s pay respect.”
