A photo of Utah hunter Rebecca Francis in a pose with a dead giraffe has sparked worldwide ire and death threats after British comedian and animal rights activist Ricky Gervais tweeted the image.
The post had been retweeted about 24,500 times as of Wednesday afternoon, and numerous news sites have written about the backlash.
Francis, who has co-hosted the television show “Eye of the Hunter,” has shared photos of her African hunts on her website,
rebeccafrancis.com.
On the site, the mother of eight wrote that she has enjoyed hunting since childhood and she prefers bow hunting.
The 5-year-old photo sparked sharp reactions on Twitter.
Francis defended the photo in a post on the HuntingLife.com Facebook page, saying of the giraffe: “He was inevitably going to die soon and he could either be wasted or utilized by the local people. I chose to honor his life by providing others with his uses and I do not regret it for one second. Once he was down there were people waiting to take his meat. They also took his tail to make jewelry, his bones to make other things, and did not waste a single part of him.”
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