The visa of an American influencer who posted a video of herself grabbing a baby wombat and carrying it away from its mother is being reviewed by immigration officials.
Sam Jones — who describes herself on social media as a “wildlife biologist and environmental scientist” — came under fire online for the Instagram reel, which has since been deleted.
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke on Thursday revealed that the government was scrutinising the conditions of Ms Jones’ visa to determine whether immigration law had been breached.
“Either way, 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 in a statement.
“I can’t wait for Australia to see the back of this individual, I don’t expect she will return.”
The video showed Ms Jones catching the joey on the side of an unidentified road and carrying it to a car, while a man laughs as he films.
“Look at the mother, it’s like aw chasing after her,” the man can be heard saying as Ms Jones runs towards the car with the joey held in front of her chest.
After a few moments, Ms Jones lets go of the baby. A caption that originally accompanied the clip said “baby and mom slowly waddled back off together into the bush”.
Earlier on Thursday, Foreign Minister Penny Wong wouldn’t be drawn on whether Ms Jones should have her visa cancelled.
“I will leave those sorts of questions to Tony Burke,” she said.
“But really leave the wombat alone.”
Tania Bishop, a veterinarian with wildlife organisation Wires, said the act was “absolutely horrifying” and could have caused serious injury to the baby wombat.
“The way that she has picked up by the forearms where she has and then yanked it up like that, that alone could cause serious injury to the upper limbs and the shoulder and structures within the shoulder,” she said.
“But then swinging it as she has come across the road could also have furthered that damage.”
She went on to say that the baby was “clearly calling to its mother and it’s in distress”.
