Outrage as female hunter claims giraffe kill was ‘conservation’

A photo showing an American hunter posing next to a black giraffe she’d just gunned down has sparked outrage online with people branding the young woman a “savage” for killing the creature.

Tess Thompson Talley, from Kentucky, USA, posted the photograph on her Facebook account one year ago, but it recently went viral after it was shared on Twitter by an account named AfricaDigest, causing an outpouring of rage.

The 37-year-old has since defended her actions, saying she killed the 18-year-old giraffe because he was “over breeding age” and claimed the animal had already killed three younger bulls in the herd.

Writing in an email, she told Fox News: “This is called conservation through game management. 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.”

Read more: Let’s talk: Does hunting aid conservation?

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 pic.twitter.com/hSK93DOOaz

— AfricaDigest (@africlandpost) June 16, 2018

Talley, who is married to a fellow hunter, has shared a selection of photographs of her hunting trophies online, which show her posing next to a number of animals she is believed to have killed, including a kangaroo.

According to reports by the Daily Mail, she is believed to have shared the original photo with the caption: “Prayers for my once in a lifetime dream hunt came true today! Spotted this rare black giraffe bull and stalked him for quite a while. I knew it was the one. He was over 18 years old, 4,000 lbs and was blessed to be able to get 2,000 lbs of meat from him.”

Giraffes, which have a life-span of up to 25-years, turn darker as they get older and are usually covered in black patches by the time they reach an average age of 9.4-years. Wildlife researcher Fred Bercovitch told LiveScience: “What is fascinating about the colour change is that it goes from light to dark. In men, the colour gets lighter, not darker with age.” 

Read more: Airline bows to pressure to ban trophy animals.

Thousands of people have expressed their outrage over the photos on social media, using the hashtag #TessThompsonTalley, including a number of celebrities who are known for their strong stance on animal welfare. Actor and comedian Ricky Gervais wrote on Instragram: “Giraffes are now on the ‘red list’ of endangerment due to a 40% decline over the last 25 years. They could become extinct. Gone forever. And still, we allow spoilt c***s to pay money to shoot them with a bow and arrow for fun.

While Will & Grace actress Debra Messing hit out by saying: “Tess Thompson Talley from Nippa, Kentucky is a disgusting, vile, amoral, heartless, selfish murderer. Giraffes are the epitome of gentle giants. They glide across the plains, like liquid; awe inspiring creatures who spend their days eating leaves and caring for their young. How DARE she. A rare animal that will be extinct by the time her grandchildren can go and gutlessly sit in the brush with a scope and pull a trigger. It does not take skill to have a ranger track a giraffe for you, and with the aid of night vision glasses and a scope, pull a trigger like some Carnival game.”

Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump reversed a ban initiated under his predecessor Barack Obama which banned the importation of big game trophies from Africa, allowing them on a case-by-case basis.

The President’s sons, Donald Jr and Eric, are both believed to be fans of big-game hunting and previously sparked outrage when a photo of them posing with a dead leopard, from a 2012 hunting trip, resurfaced online.

What do you think of big-game hunting? Does it upset you to see photos like this?