Melbourne, Australia (AP) — An American influencer who sparked anger after posting a video of a baby wombat snatched from a mother in Australia apologized Saturday, saying he acted with interest in the welfare of young animals.
Australian authorities threatened Sam Jones with deportation after posting a video to her Instagram account, running through Wombat Joey from her mother on the roadside at night.
“She might attack me out of fear, rather than separating Joey from her mother,” Jones also uses Samantha Stool, posted on social media.
“The snap judgments I made at these moments were not from where Joey was harmed or stolen,” she added.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the video of a young wombat being held was “just an outrage.”
Home Minister Tony Burke said his department is investigating whether Jones violated the terms of her visa before leaving the country on Friday.
“There was no good day in Australia to become a baby wombat,” Burke said after voluntarily leaving Australia.
Burke said he doesn’t expect Jones to apply for an Australian visa again.
The animal looks like a common wombat, and is also known as a bare nose wombat. It is a protected marsupial that was only found in Australia.
Montana-based Jones claimed she became “very worried” when she discovered that two wombats were not moving on the road.
“Wombats are frequently attacked on Australian roads, so I stopped to make sure they were safely off the road and not attacked,” Jones said.
“But as you can see from the video, Joey didn’t move or run away when I approached them. I was worried that it might have been sick or injured, so I picked up Joey and made a snap judgment to see if it was true,” she added.
When he films Jones, an unidentified man laughs: “I caught a baby wombat.” Both focus on the sound of mother’s aggression.
Animal welfare experts said Jones was able to injure Joey by hanging it with his two forelimbs.
Jones said he had returned Joey to his mother and confirmed that both of them were leaving the road.
“I have reflected on this situation a lot and realized that I am not dealing with it as best I should have,” she said.
“I learned from this situation and I’m really sorry for the pain I caused,” she added.
Jones did not immediately respond to Associated Press questions on Saturday, including where and when the baby wombat was caught.
Wombat experts said the video revealed that Joey had obesity with skin disease and would die without treatment.
Jones refused to reveal his current location to the Associated Press.
