The female hunter who was branded a 'white American savage' for killing a black giraffe has claimed that the kill was a part of a conservation effort.

Tess Thompson Talley, 37, who lives in Odessa, Texas, posted photos of herself with the dead giraffe on Facebook after a hunting trip to South Africa a year ago.

The pictures went viral only recently after being reposted on Twitter last month by the website Africa Digest. The post prompted immediate outrage on social media.

Talley, who has been receiving death threats since the photos emerged, defended her kill, telling Fox News that the giraffe was 18 and too old to breed.

Hunter, Tess Thompson Talley, 37, of Kentucky, who was branded a 'white American savage' for killing a black giraffe, has claimed that the kill was a part of a conservation effort

Talley, who has been receiving death threats since the photos emerged, defended her kill, saying that the giraffe was 18 and too old to breed

She claimed that the giraffe had killed three younger bulls in the herd who were able to breed.

'This is called conservation through game management,' she said.

'The giraffe I hunted was the South African sub-species of giraffe. The numbers of this sub-species is actually increasing due, in part, to hunters and conservation efforts paid for in large part by big game hunting.

'The breed is not rare in any way other than it was very old. Giraffes get darker with age.'

The animal she hunted is referred to as a black giraffe only because the dominant males tend to change color as they get older.

Their mustard-colored patches will darken over time until they are black.

It's actually a subspecies whose population is up 167 per cent since 1979 to more than 21,000.

She claimed that the giraffe had killed three younger bulls in the herd who were able to breed. 'This is called conservation through game management,' she said

When she first posted the photos, Talley asked for 'prayers' for her 'once in a lifetime dream hunt'. She said she spotted the black giraffe bull and stalked him for quite awhile

Talley posted several photos of her posing in front of the giraffe's corpse, laying down next to it and leaning against the slain animal with its head wrapped around her

Talley, who is married to a fellow hunter, posted several photos of her posing in front of the giraffe's corpse, laying down next to it and leaning against the slain animal as its head wrapped around her.

She shared the controversial photos 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 awhile.'

'I knew it was the one. He was over 18 years old, 4,000 lbs and was blessed to be able to get 2,000 lbs of meat from him,' she wrote. On average, giraffes have a 25-year lifespan, according to National Geographic.

News outlet Africa Digest called Talley a 'savage' in the tweet they shared last week.

'White American savage who is partly a Neanderthal comes to Africa and shoot down a very rare black giraffe courtesy of South Africa stupidity,' their tweet read. She has since made her Facebook profile private following backlash.

Social media users were equally angered by the photos and started tweeting with the hashtag #TessThompsonTalley.

Talley's Facebook page shows her posing with a variety of other animals she has hunted

Talley is pictured above holding up a kangaroo she is believed to have killed

Among those to hit out at Talley was Will and Grace actress Debra Messing who called the hunter a 'disgusting, vile, amoral, heartless, selfish murderer'.

'With joy in her black heart and a beaming smile she lies next to the dead carcass of a *rare* black giraffe in South Africa. Giraffes are the epitome of gentle giants. They glide across the plains, like liquid; awe inspiring creatures who spend their days eating leaves and caring for their young. How DARE she,' Messing wrote in a lengthy post.

Comedian Ricky Gervais tweeted: '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. And still, we allow spoilt c**ts to pay money to shoot them with a bow and arrow for fun.'

Big game hunting is legal in parts of Africa, including South Africa, where the industry and related tourism brings in $2billion annually

Iris Ho, who tracks trophy hunting at Humane Society International, told CBS that 'it's shocking that anyone would take joy or pleasure in killing a beautiful and graceful animal like a giraffe'.

The giraffe population in Africa has dropped about 40 per cent in just 15 years, according to the Giraffe Conservation Foundation.

Giraffes were classified as 'vulnerable' in 2016 by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which manages the list of endangered species worldwide. There are fewer than 100,000 giraffes left on the continent.

The controversial photos seemingly went unnoticed until news outlet Africa Digest shared them last week

Among those to hit out at Talley was Will and Grace actress Debra Messing who called the hunter a 'disgusting, vile, amoral, heartless, selfish murderer'

Paul Babaz, the president of hunting advocacy group Safari Club International, told CBS that the trophy fee for a giraffe is about $2,000 to $3,000 per animal.

He claims that money from legal hunting helps support the local community; therefore, providing an incentive to make sure big game animals don't become extinct.

'Without that….the poachers will come in and kill the animals indiscriminately, which is very unfortunate,' Babaz told the network.

Babaz also claimed that Talley ate some of the giraffe's meat during her hunting trip but gave most of it away to feed more than 200 local villagers, including children at an orphanage.

Talley is not the first American who has come under fire for big game hunting.

In 2015 a Minneapolis dentist prompted fury for killing Cecil, a famous Zimbabwean lion.

President Donald Trump's sons Donald Jr and Eric both enjoy big-game hunting, according to their father.

Pictures of them posing with animals they killed in 2011, including a leopard, drew criticism after resurfacing in 2016.

In March, the US Fish and Wildlife Service allowed for some big game trophies to be imported from Africa on a case-by-case basis, reversing a ban initiated under Trump's predecessor President Barack Obama.