News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Thousands of people have signed a petition calling for an American TV presenter to be banned from South Africa, after she posed with a lion she claimed to have shot and killed in the country.

Wildlife presenter Melissa Bachman sparked outrage after posting a picture on her Facebook page which showed her smiling as she posed with a gun next to the apparently dead male lion.

The caption accompanying the photo read: "An incredible day hunting in South Africa! Stalked inside 60-yards on this beautiful male lion... What a hunt!"

But the image - one of many "trophy" hunting photos Bachman has posted on her Facebook page and personal website - prompted a huge backlash, with many branding her "heartless and shameful".

And now, more than 35,000 people have signed an online petition calling on the government of South Africa to deny Bachman future entry to the country.

In a letter addressed to Mkuseli Apleni, director general of South Africa's Department of Home Affairs, Bomo Edna Molewa at the Ministry of Water and Environmental Affairs, and Lakela Kaunda from the private office of the president, the petition's signatories say: "Melissa Bachman has made a career out of hunting wildlife, for pure sport.

"Her antics are captured extensively on her personal website.

"She is an absolute contradiction to the culture and conservation this country prides itself on. Her latest Facebook post features her with a lion she has just executed and murdered in our country.

"As tax payers we demand she no longer be granted access to this country and its natural resources."

So far, 35,662 people have pledged their support for the petition from all around the world.

Warning: You may find some of the pictures in this gallery distressing

Richard Robinson, from Maryland in the United States, said Bachman's actions were "the epitome of man's complete disregard for nature, for the pursuit of our own approval and self esteem."

He said: "That animal was born to a mother, was a father to many children and was good at its pure existence.

"It might have been 10/20 years old, endured droughts, hunger, all the elements and everything thrown at it, but you came along with a nice big gun...and your digital camera and took all that away. I hope you are proud."

Jessica Moore, from Cape Town in South Africa, said she had signed the petition because animals "are not objects of entertainment or trophies".

Deepa Kamath, from Texas added: "Hunting down defenseless creatures with powerful weapons, for sport and pleasure, is incredibly repulsive and deeply unjust. There is nothing remotely equal about an encounter between an armed human and a wild animal."

Melissa Bachman's website says she films, edits and hunts for a living in her "dream job", and presents television hunting programme Winchester Deadly Passion.

Her Twitter account appeared to have been suspended this weekend amid the barrage of criticism she has faced.

* The petition can be found here.