An American influencer has drawn criticism from animal welfare advocates after posting footage of herself capturing a wild baby wombat and holding it for the camera.<br /><br />Sam Jones, who describes herself on social media as a "wildlife biologist and environmental scientist", shared the video in a since-deleted Instagram reel.<br /><br />It shows Ms Jones catching the joey on the side of an unidentified road and carrying it to a car, while a man laughs as he films.<br /><br />Another wombat the pair identifies as the joey's mother is seen chasing after the baby and hanging around the car while the joey hisses and screeches.<br /><br />After a few moments, Ms Jones lets go of the baby, but the filming cuts out before it is known whether the animals are reunited.<br /><br />A caption that originally accompanied the clip indicated they were. "Baby and mom slowly waddled back off together into the bush," it said.<br /><br />WIRES wildlife veterinarian Tania Bishop says the fundamental issue with this incident was the potential for severe distress being caused to both the mother and joey.
