After posing with a "rare" black giraffe she killed during a safari hunt in South Africa, American trophy hunter Tess Thompson Talley has sparked outrage on social media.
In mid-June, Africa Digest posted on Twitter two photos of Tally, a Kentucky resident, along with the caption, "White american savage who is partly a neanderthal comes to Africa and shoot down a very rare black giraffe coutrsey of South Africa stupidity. Her name is Tess Thompson Talley. Please share."
As of Monday afternoon, the post has been retweeted 38,000 times, liked 22,000 times, and received 5,600 replies.
Talley defended both the hunt and the photos, which were taken last year.
“The giraffe I hunted was the South African sub-species of giraffe. The numbers of this sub-species is actually increasing due, in part, to hunters and conservation efforts paid for in large part by big game hunting. The breed is not rare in any way other than it was very old. Giraffes get darker with age,” Talley told Fox News.
She also indicated that while the giraffe was too old to breed, it had hunted and killed younger giraffes of breeding age. So by killing off the older one, population of the species was able to increase.
“This is called conservation through game management,” Talley said, not a “canned” hunt.
Nonetheless, social media was ruthless, including actress Debra Messing, who tweeted:
Others were equally disgusted.