The controversial US influencer who sparked international outrage after snatching a baby wombat from its distressed mother has broken her silence, declaring she is no ‘villain’.

In a fiery three-part rant post on her Instagram page, Samantha Stable, who fled Australia on Friday, claimed the reaction to her divisive video had been hypocritical.

The 24-year-old, who goes by the name Sam Jones online, claimed Australians were ‘blind’ to the fact ‘tens of millions of taxpayer dollars’ were spent slaughtering wombats each year. 

In contrast, the 24-year-old claimed she had actually been trying to save the baby wombat after spotting it ‘not moving’ by the side of a busy road. 

‘Am I a villain? Thins, dead reader, are not s they seem,’ she wrote her social media.

‘Over holding a wombat, thousands threaten my life. 

‘Let me be clear; these same people ought to understand the reality of Australia today. 

‘For the readers that are so angered by my mistaken attempt to help and that I am a hunter – do not be blind to your country.

‘Let’s start with wombats – The Australian government allows and permits the slaughter of wombats.

Samantha Strable, 24, shared a since-deleted video to her Instagram account on Tuesday of her grabbing a wild wombat joey

Samantha Strable, 24, shared a since-deleted video to her Instagram account on Tuesday of her grabbing a wild wombat joey

‘Thousands each year are shot, poisoned to suffer, and trapped legally.

‘Landowners rip up wombat burrows with heavy machinery, poison them with fumigation, and shoot them whenever they can. 

‘Quietly, of course, so as not to face the wrath that has come upon me.

‘Why, might you ask, do they kill them? Well, to feed you. 

‘The landowner is trying to survive, to raise you the lamb for your dinner table, the grapes for your wine, and the produce for your salads. 

‘Wombats get in the way of this, through putting their holes and tunnels across the land, creating hazard for livestock, and turning up the ground to eat roots. 

‘The wombat knows no better, as it too, is merely trying to survive.

‘Your government further spends tens of millions of taxpayer dollars annually to fly around in helicopters and shoot beautiful horses, deer, and pigs out its windows. A swift death is often not afforded to these animals.

‘The Australian Government Department of Agriculture’s research showed a percentage of animals end up painfully wounded and stated

‘Animal-welfare outcomes could be improved with a national-level standard operating procedure requiring helicopters to fly back over shot animals and repeatedly shoot animals in the head.

Ms Strable's adventures included killing a wild pig with a knife in New Zealand

Ms Strable’s adventures included killing a wild pig with a knife in New Zealand

‘Survival for these animals can become near impossible, and their lives, a constant state a fear. 

‘Their carcasses are then left on your public lands to rot. 

‘Your Snowy River and Kosciuszko National Park brumbys are being slaughtered by the thousands on your dime-speak to your Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about that. 

‘Loving the National Parks and Wildlife Service of Australia while being angered at me for killing feral deer for food, is hypocrisy at its finest.

‘How about the beloved Kangaroo, the National animal on your coat of arms? 

‘In the last 20 years, approximately 90 million kangaroos and wallabies have been legally slaughtered for commercial purposes and that number is not slowing down. 

‘Millions are legally killed each year. Are they not deserved of government protection as native species? 

‘If you don’t believe me, take a look around the next time you go to Woolworth’s where you will see kangaroo flesh sold as both pet and human food.

‘You see, as sad as it is, most of humanity selfishly cares far more about ourselves than we do the natural world. In many articles it was suggested that I go see a wombat in a zoo instead. 

American hunting influencer Sam Strable (pictured) was previously seen picking up a wild echidna

American hunting influencer Sam Strable (pictured) was previously seen picking up a wild echidna

‘Let’s be clear, breeding and keeping wild animals in captivity to be imprisoned in a zoo for our gawking pleasure is a sin far more egregious than holding one for a moment in effort to help.

‘While the prime minister wishes harm on me for picking up a wombat, I implore you to take a good, hard, look at what is currently being done in Australia surrounding the real issues it faces, the lack of power for tens of thousands of Aussies, and the treatment of its native wildlife.

‘Then, decide for yourself, if I, a person who certainly makes mistakes, am really your villain.

Describing her now notorious encounter with the baby wombat, Stable said she had simple made a ‘snap decision’ to try to save its life after finding it by the side of the road and fearing it was in danger. 

‘When we found the mother and joey on a road, not moving, I was extremely concerned,’ she wrote. 

‘As wombats are so often hit on Australian roads, I stopped to ensure they got off the road safely and didn’t get hit. 

‘However, as is seen from the video, when I walked up to them, the joey did not move or run off. 

‘I was concerned it may have been sick or injured, and made a snap judgement to pick up the joey and see if this was the case. I ran, not to rip the joey away from its mother, but from fear she might attack me.

Ms Strable fell in love with chasing game after doing a hunting mentor program

Ms Strable fell in love with chasing game after doing a hunting mentor program

‘The snap judgement I made in these moments was never from a place of harm or stealing a joey.

‘While I was unbelievably excited to see such an amazing animal, I looked it over quickly and immediately returned it to its mother. I ensured that the mother and joey did reunite, went off together, and that they got off the road.

‘I have done a great deal of reflection on this situation and have realized that I did not handle this situation as best as I should have.

‘Regardless, my only intent was to prevent these amazing animals from being hit, and making sure the joey wasn’t in need of immediate care.

‘I have learned from this situation, and am truly sorry for the distress I have caused.

‘I want to make it absolutely clear that this was never about social media or getting likes. 

‘This was not staged, nor was it done for entertainment. In my excitement and concern, I acted too quickly and then failed to provide necessary context to viewers online.’      

Stables’ almost-1000 word retort came within hours of her fleeing the countery.  

Government sources revealed on Friday she has departed Australia, and was believed to be on her way back to the US. 

‘There’s never been a better day to be a baby wombat in Australia,’ Immigration Minister Tony Burke told Daily Mail Australia on Friday.  

The wombat stunt infuriated Australians, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who urged the influencer to try her luck with some other Australian animals.

‘Take a baby crocodile from its mother and see how you go there,’ Mr Albanese said on Thursday.

‘Take another animal that can actually fight back rather than stealing a baby wombat from its mother.’

The federal government began working to deport her after wildlife service WIRES said Ms Strable had violated Australia’s biosecurity and animal welfare laws, but she jumped before being pushed.  

But despite being an avid wildlife hunter – who has posted multiple selfies with wild creatures she had killed – Ms Strable tried to get a job with animal rights group PETA.

They rejected her application after a background check discovered she was an ‘avid hunter and carnivore’.

A second controversial video of Ms Strable also resurfaced on Thursday, sparking further outrage.

The clip shows her handling an echidna, which appeared to be in the wild, and showing it off to her almost 100,000 followers last month. 

Raised in Great Falls, Montana, she didn't grow up around hunting - telling a Wyoming paper in 2023 that she initially thought the sport was 'pretty gross'

Raised in Great Falls, Montana, she didn’t grow up around hunting – telling a Wyoming paper in 2023 that she initially thought the sport was ‘pretty gross’

Now her former boss in the US state of Wyoming has told Daily Mail Australia how he sacked her from his hunting tour company after just 30 days when he claimed he found out she misled him about her experience.

Bruce Lindsey, of Best of the West Outfitters, employed her in October 2021 as a ‘packer’ who helped clients on rocky mountain elk hunting trips in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem.

Mr Lindsey said the wombat furore surrounding his former employee ‘certainly doesn’t surprise me’.

He said he was forced to fire Ms Strable after just her first month on the job after it ‘became clear’ his fresh-faced worker wasn’t cut out for the tough job of leading a string of mules through the Yellowstone snows.

‘She just didn’t have the knowledge, didn’t have the experience, and we had to assist her greatly with her duties,’ he said, citing a catalogue of issues with her work.

She then ‘contacted the state and wrote a bunch of blogs (about the company) that caused issues’.

He added: ‘I don’t recall her being a ‘biologist’ at all.’

Despite admitting in a 2023 newspaper interview that she thought hunting was ‘pretty gross’ when she was a child, Ms Strable went on to fall in love with it.

She changed her mind after doing a hunting mentorship program when she shot a deer and then tasted some of the cooked tenderloin from her kill.

Raised in Great Falls, Montana, Ms Strable was born into a Christian family with four siblings, all of them home-schooled but high achievers.

Samantha’s younger sister, Kimberly, stepped away from California Intercontinental University with a doctorate in Business Administration at just 17 years old. 

‘We Strables are high performers by nature,’ Samantha’s mother Adria Strable said at the time. 

‘And Kimberly embodies that work ethic, “Whatever your hand finds to do, work at it with all your might as working for the Lord.”‘   

By 2020 Ms Strable was basing herself in Pinedale, Wyoming, for seasonal work during the northern summers, and then flying to the southern hemisphere to hunt during the northern winters.

Despite being an avid wildlife hunter - who has posted multiple selfies with wild creatures she had killed - Ms Strable tried to get a job with animal rights group PETA

Despite being an avid wildlife hunter – who has posted multiple selfies with wild creatures she had killed – Ms Strable tried to get a job with animal rights group PETA

Her adventures included killing a wild pig with a knife in New Zealand and stalking red deer with a bow in Chile.

Two years later, Ms Strable applied for a job at the animal rights group PETA, according to the Hustead Law Firm based in Denver, Colorado.

She didn’t get the job and lodged a complaint with the Montana Human Rights Bureau alleging age discrimination. 

Samantha’s younger sister, Dr Kimberly Strable, has received about $350,000 USD in settlements from 300 discrimination claims, according to US court documents. 

Hustead Law Firm was retained to represent PETA, and after doing a background search on Ms Strable, discovered that she was an ‘avid hunter and carnivore, characteristics expressly prohibited by PETA’s policies’.

Her complaint to the Human Rights Bureau about the failed job application was dismissed 

In the footage released on Tuesday, Ms Strable was seen running towards her car with a wombat joey swinging in her arms. 

The joey’s mother was seen desperately chasing her while an Australian man laughed as he filmed the scene.

‘I caught a baby wombat,’ Ms Strable said as the joey shrieked and wiggled trying to free itself from her grasp.

She 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.

‘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.’

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Strable for comment. 

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