Who is the American influencer capturing global headlines for taking a joey wombat?
The past 24 hours have seen global media headlines generated after travel Instagrammer and TikToker Sam Jo went viral for posting a video in which she appears to have taken a baby wombat from its mother.
In the video, since deleted from her account, a passenger says: “Just caught a baby wombat... Look at the mother, chasing after her. Momma’s right there and she is pissed,” before filming Jones holding the frightened joey.
Go Deeper: The story has generated national and international headlines with wildlife experts rightly criticising her actions and some even calling for her to be deported.
Amid the media storm, some might be forgiven for thinking Jo, who, on her profiles, describes herself as a "wildlife biologist and environmental scientist," is a major travel or wildlife influencer.
The reality is Jo is a microinfluencer who has around 92,000 followers on Instagram (she has locked down her account in the wake of the storm) and had less than 20,000 followers on, her now deleted, TikTok.
Many of her posts have been in out in nature in back home in Wyoming where she often posts about being outside and topics like ethically sourced meat.
Her audience on Instagram is largely US-based and aged 25-34.
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