'For holding a wombat, thousands threatened my life'
A US influencer who was filmed taking a wild baby wombat away from its distressed mother in Australia has said she is "truly sorry" and received thousands of death threats over the incident.
Sam Jones, who calls herself an "outdoor enthusiast and hunter", was filmed picking up the joey on the side of a road, while laughing and running over to a car, while the mother chases after them.
It sparked a huge backlash, with Australian PM Anthony Albanese challenging her to "take a baby crocodile from its mother and see how you go there".
In a lengthy statement on her Instagram page, Jones says she was trying to get the animals safely off the road.
She said, as can be seen in the video, that the mother runs off the road, but the baby does not, and Jones scoops it up. She says she ran across the road "not to rip the joey away from its mother, but from fear she might attack me".
"The snap judgement I made in these moments was never from a place of harm or stealing a joey," the statement said.
She said the video was "not staged, nor was it done for entertainment", and in her excitement of the moment, "acted too quickly and failed to provide necessary context to viewers online".
In the second part of her statement, Jones launched a scathing attack on Australia's animal culling laws, including wombats, kangaroos, horses, deer and pigs.
Australia has various culling laws and regulations that spark controversy and divide the nation.
Wombats, which are native to Australia, are a protected species, but permits can be obtained to cull them if deemed necessary.
An online petition supporting her deportation received more than 40,000 signatures. Home Affairs minister Tony Burke said his department was reviewing whether it could revoke Jones's visa. However, the BBC understands that she left the country of her own accord.
Jones, who also goes by the name Samantha Strable, has more than 95,000 followers on Instagram.
Conservationists warned Jones's "appalling" behaviour could have caused severe harm to the wombats.
The Wombat Protection Society said it was shocked to see the "mishandling of a wombat joey in an apparent snatch for 'social media likes'".
"[She] then placed the vulnerable baby back onto a country road - potentially putting it at risk of becoming roadkill," it noted in its statement, adding that it remained unclear if the joey had been reunited with its mother.
"I caught a baby wombat," Jones said in the video, while the joey could be heard hissing and struggling in her grip.
The man filming can be heard laughing: "Look at the mother, it's chasing after her!"
Her caption in the now-deleted post read: "My dream of holding a wombat has been realised! Baby and mom slowly waddled back off together into the bush."
"The baby was carefully held for one minute in total and then released back to mom," she wrote in the comments, responding to criticism.
"They wandered back off into the bush together completely unharmed. I don't ever capture wildlife that will be harmed by my doing so."
Animal rights organisations have criticised Jones. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or Peta, described the video as "wildlife-exploiting content" and urged people to "stop treating wildlife as a prop".