Australia tells US influencer: 'Leave baby wombat alone'

SYDNEY, Australia - 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.

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.

"I think everyone who would have seen that would have thought, look, leave the baby wombat alone."

Australia's Wombat Protection Society said the influencer "mishandled 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."

Australia's rotund native wombats are among the world's biggest burrowing species, according to the national museum.

While some species are considered endangered, the common bare-nosed wombat is found along large swathes of southern and eastern Australia. - AFP