US influencer who snatched baby wombat leaves Australia after outcry

By Alasdair Pal

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An American influencer who uploaded a video of her grabbing a baby wombat, triggering widespread outrage, has left Australia.

Sam Jones, who describes herself as an "outdoor enthusiast and hunter", posted the now-deleted video to her 92,000 Instagram followers from an unknown location in Australia.

It showed her picking up the baby wombat from the side of a road as it struggled and hissed and the animal's distressed mother ran after it. Jones later put the wombat back down.

Wombats are a marsupial found only in Australia and a protected species.

Jones has left the country, a person familiar with the situation who declined to be named said on Friday, a day after the interior ministry said it was reviewing whether Jones' had breached the conditions of her visa.

"There's never been a better day to be a baby wombat in Australia," Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said in a statement on Friday. There was no indication the influencer had been deported.

Jones' video drew widespread condemnation, including from the country's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

"To take a baby wombat from its mother, and clearly causing distress from the mother is just an outrage," he told a news conference on Thursday evening.

"I suggest to this so-called influencer, maybe she might try some other Australian animals. Take a baby crocodile from its mother and see how you go there."

Jones could not be reached for comment. Her Instagram profile has now been set to private.

(Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney; Editing by Kate Mayberry)