UPDATE: An American influencer left Australia on Friday after the government announced it was reviewing her visa over a video she posted of her snatching a baby wombat from its mother.
“There’s never been a better day to be a baby wombat in Australia,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said, according to the Associated Press, after a government official confirmed Sam Jones had left Australia voluntarily.
Burke had previously said on Friday that the conditions of the social media user’s visa were being reviewed.
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ORIGINAL STORY: An American hunting influencer who sparked outrage after picking up a baby wombat in Australia and carrying it away from its mother is now in danger of losing her Australian visa as an investigation into her conduct is launched.
Sam Jones, who has close to 100,000 Instagram followers, is now under scrutiny and Australia’s home affairs minister, Tony Burke, says his department is “working through the conditions” on Jones’ visa to determine “whether immigration law has been breached.”
“I can’t wait to see the back of this individual,” Burke said in a statement on Thursday in response to the recording.
The video, which was shot in an unknown location on an unknown date, shows Jones running down the road carrying the joey, showing off the baby animal.
“OK, momma’s right there and she is pissed,” Jones then says, as the camera pans to the mother wombat emerging from the bush on the side of the road. Jones then puts down the animal.
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The video has since been deleted and Jones has deleted her TikTok account and set her Instagram to private.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called Jones’ decision to separate the joey from its mother “an outrage,” and challenged Jones to try picking up one of his country’s more dangerous animals.
“Maybe she might try some other Australian animals,” he said at a press conference when asked about the incident, per The Guardian. “Take a baby crocodile from its mother and see how you go there. Take another animal that can actually fight back rather than stealing a baby wombat from its mother. See how you go there.”
Burke, in a statement to CNN, said Jones may never be welcome in his country again.
“Given the level of scrutiny that will happen if she ever applies for a visa again, I’ll be surprised if she even bothers,” he said over email to the outlet.
“I don’t expect she will return.”
Meanwhile, ecologists and wildlife experts have expressed outrage and disappointment in Jones’ actions, saying the separation of baby and mother would trigger stress reactions in both.
“Yanking a baby away from its mother, running away with it, and having the baby dangling in hands, is sort of pretty high up there in what not to do,” Barry Brook, an ecologist with the University of Tasmania, told CNN.
The Wombat Protection Society said in a statement that it was shocked to see the “mishandling of a wombat joey in an apparent snatch for ‘social media likes.'”
Wombats are a legally protected species in Australia. The native animals share a strong bond between mothers and offspring.
“Wombats are not a photo prop or plaything,” Suzanne Milthorpe, head of campaigns at World Animal Protection Australia, said in a statement online.
“It’s just unacceptable, and we’re glad she’s being called to account. Snatching a screaming baby wombat from their mother is not just appalling, it’s very possibly illegal under state or national laws,” Milthrope wrote.
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