Animal expert has huge concerns for baby wombat that influencer snatched away from its mother

An American influencer has been slammed after sharing a controversial video of herself snatching a baby wombat from its mother.

Sam Jones, who refers to herself as an 'outdoor enthusiast and hunter', left Australia on Friday (14 March) amid growing concerns that the native marsupial never found its parent, reports AP.

“There’s never been a better day to be a baby wombat in Australia,” home affairs minister Tony Burke said after she left.

“I can’t wait for Australia to see the back of this individual, I don’t expect she will return.”

In the now-deleted video recorded at an unknown location, Jones takes the wombat by its front legs from a roadside and then runs away from its mother at night. She returns the wombat to the roadside after several seconds.

“I caught a baby wombat,” she said while a man filming the clip laughed.

Animal expert Yolandi Vermaak said her 'biggest concern is that we didn’t actually see mom and baby getting reunited'.

"When she put it down, it looked disoriented. It was turned away from where the mother was last seen. So we don’t know if mum and baby actually found each other again," she said.

Montana-based Jones, who also uses the name Samantha Strable, hit back via a statement on Instagram today, which read: "Let me be clear; these same people ought to understand the reality of Australia today.

"For the readers that are so angered by my mistaken attempt to help and that I am a hunter—do not be blind to your country.

"Let’s start with wombats - the Australian government allows and permits the slaughter of wombats. "Thousands each year are shot, poisoned to suffer, and trapped legally.

"Landowners rip up wombat burrows with heavy machinery, poison them with fumigation, and shoot them whenever they can. Quietly, of course, so as not to face the wrath that has come upon me.

"Why, might you ask, do they kill them? Well, to feed you.

"The landowner is trying to survive, to raise you the lamb for your dinner table, the grapes for your wine, and the produce for your salads."

She added: "Your government further spends tens of millions of taxpayer dollars annually to fly around in helicopters and shoot beautiful horses, deer, and pigs out its windows.

"A swift death is often not afforded to these animals.

"The Australian Government Department of Agriculture’s research showed a percentage of animals end up painfully wounded and stated ‘Animal-welfare outcomes could be improved with a national-level standard operating procedure requiring helicopters to fly back over shot animals and repeatedly shoot animals in the head or thorax.’ Sound kind to you?…"