Campinas, SP (UOL/Folhapress) – An American influencer, known for his hunting content, caused a revolt yesterday a video that appears to tear off a Wombot puppy from his mother, Australia, for a roadside photo.
The video shows Sam Jones running down the road with the Wombat puppy in his arms while an Australian man laughs and films the scene. Wombat’s mother appears chasing the influencer, who, after holding the animal to a photo, returns the puppy to the floor.
“Look at the mother, she is chasing her!” Says the man in the video. Jones, who entitled the post as “The Dream of Holding a Wombat Puppy,” he said in the comments that the puppy and mother were “gathered in security.” However, experts dispute the narrative on social networks.
Video was deleted after criticism. Although, at first, Jones argued that he held the puppy for “just a minute” and that it caused him no damage, the influencer decided to delete the recording of social networks. Jones, who has over 92,000 Instagram followers, made his profile private after the controversy.
The video generated indignation, with Australians even asking Jones’s deportation. “Arrest, fine, deports and bane,” wrote one user on Reddit. Others criticized the influencer’s disrespect with local wildlife.
“It’s revolting, both she and the man who accompanied her. How do they think their mother trying to recover the puppy and the baby shouting at horror are funny and acceptable? It’s something without a soul, without heart, ”wrote a user.
“She says she is a biologist and should know that this is unacceptable,” commented someone else. One more added: “Please report to Australia’s internal affairs department to be prohibited from stepping in the country again.”
In Australia, all animals are protected by the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Law. The capture and inadequate management of wild animals can result in fines of up to $ 148,237 (approximately R $ 861,626) for individuals and US $ 157,298 (about R $ 914,626) for companies, and up to seven years. However, there are no records of fines or other sanctions to the young woman yet.
Jones’s profile on Instagram is full of photos and videos of her with dead or captured animals. In a publication, she appears playing with a poisonous snake in Australia. In another, hold a baby shark and a hedgehog (equidna).
