An American hunter who was savaged on social media for her 2018 photo showing her and her prized kill – a rare black giraffe – is breaking her silence.
As TheHill.com reports, the female hunter, Tess Talley, told CBS in an exclusive interview that her African big game hunting is her beloved hobby that actually helps with conservation efforts.
“It’s a hobby, it’s something that I love to do,” Talley said in the CBS interview recently. “I am proud to hunt, and I am proud of that giraffe.”
As for the black giraffe in the now infamous photo, Talley said she bagged the long-necked beast on a “conservation hunt” designed to manage area wildlife in South Africa.
She has since turned the pelts of the giraffe into decorative pillows and a gun case. She also described the giraffe meat as “delicious.”
Still, she shouldn’t look for much understanding, especially on social media.
Talley told CBS her since-deleted Facebook post last year when she bagged he giraffe generated a global backlash.
In the post, Talley told the particulars of her kill: The rare black giraffe was more than 18 years old and weighed over 4,000 pounds. She added that she “was blessed to be able to get 2,000 lbs of meat from him.”
Re-emerging in the CBS interview brought a new rebuke for Talley, as the network reached out to the humane society.
Kitty Block, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International, responded to CBS with a statement that said trophy-hunting of giraffes showed “sheer and arrogant disregard for the imperiled status of an iconic species.”
