Hunter Tess Talley was targeted by critics after posing with her kills and she’s now drawing fresh outrage after she revealed she ate the rare giraffe she killed.
Talley, of Texas, said she’s helping conservation and is proud to provide meat for her family and friends.
“I know where my meat has come from. I’m strong enough to harvest it myself,” Talley said.
Talley said hunters like her are helping to conserve wildlife by removing males past the breeding age still vital enough to kill rival males that could reproduce. But critics say the benefits of trophy hunting which brings in more than $215 million a year is a fraction of tourism revenues, which includes safaris.
“They’re not driven by this to be conservationists. If they wanted to be a good conservationist they don’t have to kill the animal to do it,” said Kitty Block, CEO of The Humane Society.
In her first interview about the incident, Talley told CBSN Originals some of the angry messages she received since the photo hit social media. But she said taking photos “honor our animals.”
“I mean it’s what we’ve always done. There’s no disrespect for the animal,” Talley said.
At least 67 countries allow big game hunting and it’s thought up to 80% of trophy hunters are American. The U.S. imports more wildlife trophies than any other country.
Talley was inundated with death threats on social media after she posted a photo of herself with a giraffe. She told CBSN Originals that she made a gun case and “decorative pillows” out of the carcass and ate the meat.
He (the giraffe) was delicious. Hahaha. He really was. Not only was he beautiful and majestic, he was good.”
Her original post said the giraffe was more than 18 years old, weighed 4,000 pounds (1814kg) and yielded 2000 pounds (907kg) of meat.
Asked if she was still hunting despite the negative outpouring towards her, she said: “Absolutely!
“It is a hobby, it is something I love to do. It’s conservation, at this hunt in particular, it was a conservation hunt. We are preserving the wildlife.
“We are managing herds, we are managing numbers of wildlife, and we’re hunters and we’re proud to be a hunter (sic). I am proud to hunt and I am proud of that giraffe.
