Wombat woes: American flees to Thailand after Aussie uproar
An American woman’s ill-fated encounter with a wombat joey has sparked uproar Down Under, sending her fleeing to Thailand in the wake of a furious Aussie backlash.
An Australian influencer called out the American on TikTok labelling her a “pig,” “narcasist” and a “terrible woman” after she posted a video of her snatching the joey from its distressed mother. The backlash from the video caused caused her to flee to Thailand.
Samantha Strable has become the unintended villain of an international incident, after a now-deleted video of her snatching a wombat joey from its distressed mother went viral.
The clip shows her boyfriend, sheep shearer Louis Sixt, apparently laughing off the mother’s frantic chase, capturing it all with glee. The duo has since disappeared to Thailand, hoping to dodge the digital debacle.
The outrage began when popular Melbourne influencer Anthony Voulgaris took to TikTok to condemn the 24 year old’s actions in front of his half a million followers.
“I’m all for making mistakes. Everyone needs to learn. But this isn’t a mistake. You’re being a terrible person because you saw the mum and the baby struggling in distress.”
Voulgaris was livid about the laughing duo, dubbing them “absolute pigs” and suggesting they should have had the wisdom of his 11-year-old self, The Daily Mail reported.
“When I was a child, I picked up a duckling, saw the distress, and put it down. I felt guilty for a month, knowing I could have risked the mom rejecting it. Note to self, don’t be a narcissist.”
He fervently urged Strable to “never come back to Australia again” and to “keep her hands off our wildlife.”
The influencer’s video struck a chord with thousands, gathering over 8,000 supportive comments.
One Aussie viewer commented, “Seeing the mummy wombat waddle after her in distress is seared into my brain. It makes me so mad I want to cry.”
Yet, not everyone was gunning for Strable.
A more tempered voice emerged in the comment section.
“Yes, the wombat should never have been treated that way. But the level of threats and hate towards her is excessive.”
“This is bad, but cows experience this daily in the dairy meat industry. Their babies are taken too.”
Despite the uproar, the American woman stands by her actions, insisting she did the joey no harm. In a series of online posts, she defended her intentions and shared that the joey was only held for a minute.
“For everyone worried, the baby was carefully held for one minute and then released back to mum. They wandered back into the bush unharmed.”
Strable initially quit social media, overwhelmed by the barrage of online attacks which left her feeling unsafe and even suicidal.
“I didn’t think I could catch it, and I wanted a chance to appreciate an incredible animal up close. I never capture wildlife to harm it.”
While the digital dust-up continues, some are calling for perspective, urging netizens to focus on broader issues rather than a single individual’s actions. As the debate rages on, one thing is clear: when it comes to wildlife, Aussies won’t let sleeping wombats lie.
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