Australia’s top diplomat on Thursday urged a visiting American influencer to “leave the baby wombat alone”, after a viral video appeared to show the woman pestering a young marsupial.
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In a now-deleted video posted to Instagram this week, the woman can be seen picking up the hissing wild animal before declaring to the camera: “I caught a baby wombat.”
The woman – identified in Australian media as American outdoors influencer Sam Jones – then places the wombat back on the side of the road.
The video riled wildlife experts and animal lovers alike – and on Thursday, concern over it reached the top echelons of the Australian government.
“It looked pretty dreadful, didn’t it?” Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong told Australia’s Channel Seven.
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“I think everyone who would have seen that would have thought, look, leave the baby wombat alone.”