Katy Perry has been criticised after telling her dog to "go chase some koalas" in an advert for an Australian department store chain.

The singer is in the country to promote her tour next year and has launched a series of online promotions with Myer.

The company says it's working to remove the "offensive comments" after criticism from a leading vet.

"This is just absolute ignorance from Perry and Myer," Claire Madden told the Courier-Mail newspaper.

Perry is a role model to so many young people, and this just destroys all the good work we do to try to encourage people not to let their dogs come into contact with koalas."

Claire Madden is in the running to be the next Bondi Vet, a factual show on Network Ten in Australia, with the public choosing from a shortlist of 10 people.

The Australian Koala Foundation estimates there are fewer than 100,000 koalas left in the wild, but that figure could be as low as 43,000.