Officials reportedly threatened to cancel her visa in response to criticism of the incident after a photographed American tourist fled Australia with a wild baby couple.
A viral video on social media was designed to show Sam Jones, who had 92,000 followers on Instagram, his woman bat ran toward the car while the distressed mother chased her.
The video was reportedly removed from a privatized Instagram account since then, while Tiktok showed a woman running on the road while holding a baby bag.
“Just caught a baby woman,” a man smiled, apparently referring to Jones.
“Look at mother and chase her.” He smiled again and pointed to the adult woman who chased the woman on the way.
🚨🇦🇺🇺🇸Justice of War: Influential Americans fled Australia after rebound
Influential American Sam Jones left Australia after filming a baby bag of his mother to get angry.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the bill “angry”, suggesting she tried the same thing… pic.twitter.com/u5nmlzyquw
– Navy (Meral) March 14, 2025
It is not clear when the video will be filmed, not where it is located, but it is at night on the Australian rural roads where most kangaroos live.
Australians on social media called for deportation of Jones, and on Thursday, Australian Interior Minister Tony Burke said his department was reviewing her visa and would be cancelled if she was found to have violated her stay conditions.
On Friday, March 14, Jones voluntarily left the country, Burke announced: “There has never been a better day in Australia than this.”
Experts say the animals in the video are ordinary kangaroos, three species of Australian marsupials that are not threatened or endangered.
A section of an article on her new Tiktok account that claims to belong to her says: “You guys are all crazy…the hatred is too much for me at the moment.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese suggested on Thursday that Jones should be lucky with another Australian animal, which is more likely to fight.
“It was just anger to take out a baby bag from the mother, which obviously caused the mother’s trouble,” Albanes said.
“I suggest that for this so-called influencer, maybe she might try some other Australian animals. Take out a baby alligator from the mother and see how you get there.”
The sudden separation of the bag bat and her baby (called Joey) trigger stress responses in both animals, ecologists say.
“Take a baby away from the mother, escape it, and hold the baby in his hands, and do nothing there,” said Professor Barry Brook, an ecologist at the University of Tasmania.
Kangaroos don’t attack humans, but the claws they use to drill into the ground are very powerful. Brooke said they can cause significant damage and infection if used on human skin.
“It’s not a situation for you or any other public, it should be in trouble for the sake of animals and your own. And broadcast this on social media to get likes and hits, and so on, which is totally counterproductive,” he added.
Wildlife veterinarian Tanya Bishop’s Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Services (Wire) said the video did not show animal reunion, or Joey was injured by an injury to his front leg.
“What I’m worried about is whether Joey has temporary, painful, debilitating harm or possibly permanent,” she said. The bishop said wildlife officials were trying to determine where the video was filmed.
