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Ricky Gervais has sparked an angry barrage of abuse aimed at huntress Rebecca Francis after she posted a picture of her lying next to a dying giraffe.

Francis, who has a website and blogs in which she details her passion for hunting across Africa and America, posts pictures of herself next to animals she's killed around the world has received death threats after posing for a picture lying next to a dying giraffe.

After seeing the shot, Office star Gervais retweeted it and asked how she could do such a thing.

"What must've happened to you in your life to make you want to kill a beautiful animal & then lie next to it smiling?" he wrote.

Animal rights campaigners also lashed out and supporters backed the outrage with a series of brutal tweets aimed at the mum-of-eight.

@DirtyHippyDalek said: "May that horrible woman die a lonely, painful death."

@AsapGinger1 added: "I know this is very hypocritical of me but I want to f****** shoot her just for this picture."

Francis, from Utah, US, has also presented television series 'Eye of the Hunter' and writes on her website: "We hunt elk and deer every year without fail, even through pregnancy, and nursing babies."

She lists bears, sheep, rams and deer among the animals she has killed.