Wombat: American influencer and 'wildlife biologist' Sam Jones slammed for handling baby animal in viral video

Sam Jones, who describes herself online as a "wildlife biologist and environmental scientist," shared the now-deleted Instagram reel, which shows her catching the animal on the side of a road and carrying it towards a car while a man laughs as he films. She can be heard saying: “I caught a baby wombat!”

In the footage, originally uploaded to her Instagram account @samstrays_somewhere, the wombat’s distressed mother is seen chasing after the baby and lingering near the car, while the baby wombat hisses and screeches. Jones eventually releases it but the clip ends before it is clear whether the mother and baby were reunited.

A caption initially included in the post claimed, "Baby and mom slowly waddled back off together into the bush." Jones has yet to respond publicly but previously commented on Instagram that she held the baby wombat for just one minute before releasing it.

"The baby was carefully held for one minute in total and then released back to mom," she wrote. "They wandered back off into the bush together completely unharmed. I don’t ever capture wildlife that will be harmed by my doing so."

According to local reports, Jones may have violated Australian law by handling the animal and may have her visa revoked.

On Thursday, Australian home affairs minister Tony Burke said: “I can’t wait to see the back of this individual.”

Burke said the home affairs department was “working through the conditions” on Jones’ visa to determine “whether immigration law has been breached”.

This is not the first the influencer has courted controversy. She has previously shared videos of herself picking up a wild echidna, a hedgehog, and a baby shark.

She has since set her Instagram profile private.