Trophy hunter criticised for dead giraffe pose in South Africa Published duration 3 July 2018

A US hunter has come under criticism after pictures taken in South Africa of her posing with a dead giraffe went viral.

Images of the woman, identified as Tess Thompson Talley, posted on the AfricaDigest Twitter account last month have been retweeted thousands of times.

It described her as a "white American savage" and called on people to unite to protect wildlife.

She said the trophy kill was actually helping conservation, because by killing the old, male giraffe, she had prevented it from attacking younger giraffes.

"Now that the giraffe is gone, the younger bulls are able to breed. This is called conservation through game management," her statement adds.

Ms Talley hunted the giraffe, which can reportedly provide about 2,000lb (907kg) of meat, last year.

USA Today quotes a deleted post on Facebook where she said: "Prayers for my once in a lifetime dream hunt came true today! Spotted this rare black giraffe bull and stalked him for quite awhile."

There is no separate black giraffe species, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Hollywood actress Debra Messing is among those on social media to have questioned why it was necessary to kill an animal "for fun".

British comedian Ricky Gervais also mocked Ms Talley's decision to hunt the giraffe in a tweet.

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Environmentalists worry about the impact on conservation and bio-diversity as well as the ethics of the business.

media caption Why big game hunting is big business in South Africa

The IUCN classifies the giraffe as "vulnerable" , but notes that in southern Africa its population is rising because eco-tourism is increasing the number of privately-owned nature reserves where giraffes are among the species expected to be seen.

Trophy hunters have come under criticism before:

media caption Why we should worry about giraffes