Worldwide, animal rights activists are working to stop trophy hunting where people pay to hunt wildlife, just for sport.
Despite the organizations that fight for this to end and the public who support the move, it still happens.
In South Africa, one of the countries where this type of hunting is still legal, the larger or more exotic the animal killed, the greater the honor.
One woman from Kentucky posed in front of a black giraffe she had just killed. She posted the images on social media but had no idea the fury that it would cause.
The images were posted by a Kentucky woman identified as Tess Thompson Talley and showed her standing proudly in front of a dead giraffe 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, 4000 lbs. and was blessed to be able to get 2000 lbs. of meat from him.”
According to a report covered by The Guardian, around 1.7 million animal “trophies” have been exported across the borders by hunters in the last decade. At least 200,000 of them endangered species.
Images sparked fury
Currently, this type of hunting is permitted in South Africa, as well as a Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
After a local media outlet in Africa shared the post with their own description, it quickly spread across the globe.
“White American savage who is partly a Neanderthal comes to Africa and shoot down a very rare black giraffe courtesy of South Africa stupidity,” read the June 2018 tweet, posted by Africa Digest.
“Her name is Tess Thompson Talley. Please share.”
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
The tweet caused an angry backlash from animal lovers, activists and celebrities such as ‘Will and Grace’ star Debra Messing and comedian and actor Ricky Gervais.
Writer and star of ‘The Office’ Gervais tweeted that “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.”
https://twitter.com/DaanJordens/status/1008722932665905154
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