Australia’s Immigration Minister has blasted a US tourist for separating a baby wombat from its distressed mother, as an official investigation is launched into whether the hunting influencer has breached her visa and can be deported.
Tony Burke told Daily Mail Australia he ‘couldn’t wait’ for Australia to be rid of Samantha Jo Strable and that he doubted she would ever return Down Under.
‘The department is now working through the conditions on her current visa and determining whether immigration law has been breached,’ Mr Burke said.
‘Either way, given the level of scrutiny that will happen if she ever applies for a visa again, I’ll be surprised if she even bothers.
‘I can’t wait for Australia to see the back of this individual, I don’t expect she will return.’
His comments come after Ms Strable shared a since-deleted video of her interaction with a baby wombat to her Instagram page on Tuesday.
Ms Strable, a self-described ‘wildlife biologist and environmental scientist’, captured the juvenile wombat from the side of an unidentified road.
The footage showed Ms Strable running towards a car with the joey swinging in her arms as an Australian man laughed while filming the scene.
American hunting influencer Sam Strable grabbed a wild baby wombat from its mother on an unidentified road in Australia (pictured)
‘I can’t wait for Australia to see the back of this individual, I don’t expect she will return,’ Mr Burke said of Ms Strable on Thursday
‘I caught a baby wombat,’ Ms Strable said as the joey shrieked and wiggled trying to free itself from her grasp as its frantic mother ran over toward them.
‘Okay, mum is right there and she is pissed.
‘Let’s let him go.’
The man replied: ‘Nah, he’s all right.’
Seconds later, Ms Strable released the joey onto the side of the road where its mother was waiting.
The video quickly received a barrage of backlash, with many viewers reporting the video under ‘animal abuse’.
Ms Strable initially defended her actions, claiming she did not harm the joey and only held it for one minute.
‘For everyone that’s worried and unhappy, the baby was carefully held for ONE minute in total and then released back to mum,’ she wrote.
Sam Hunter is an American hunting influencer with almost 100,000 followers on Instagram
Ms Strable initially defended her actions claiming she only held the joey for a minute before deleting the video after she received a barrage of negative backlash (stock image)
‘They wandered back off into the bush together completely unharmed. I didn’t think I would be able to catch it in the first place, and took an opportunity to appreciate a really incredible animal up close.
‘I don’t ever capture wildlife that will be harmed by my doing so.’
The influencer has switched her accounts to private but the public outcry continued after the video was uploaded to TikTok and Reddit.
WIRES wildlife veterinarian Tania Bishop said the wombat may have suffered ‘permanent injury’ to its upper limbs and shoulders after it was roughly handled.
‘According to the Environment Protection and Biosecurity Act, you’re not allowed to unreasonably handle Australian wildlife unless you have a real belief that they are injured or requiring expert, trained care assistance or visionary assistance,’ she said.
‘The fact that they’re both laughing about it shows that there is absolutely no concern for the welfare of either the mother or the joey.
‘We don’t want to provoke a witch-hunt of course but is there a wider lesson here about public education on how to interact with our native animals. To be honest, I’m relieved that most people agree that that is inappropriate.’
Others called on the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water to deport Ms Strable to her home state of Montana.
‘This is heinous and they should both be charged,’ one person wrote.
‘Please report her to Australian Department of Home Affairs so they can ban her from ever stepping foot in Australia again,’ a second person commented.
A third added: ‘Hope she gets the maximum punishment for f***ing with wildlife’, while a fourth chimed in: ‘Arrest. Fine. Deport. Ban.’
Ms Strable’s online presence is largely populated with images of her posing with the carcasses of animals she claims to have hunted and shot.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Strable for comment.
