A New Zealand hunter is defending his parenting skills after a photo of his 8-year-old daughter biting a dead deer’s “warm, quivering heart” went viral.

The proud dad posted the photo on the New Zealand Woman Hunters Facebook page boasting about his daughter’s first kill.

“Check out my little pink ninja princess Chloe (8) with her first deer a young stag. Shot in a bush block on a friends farm last weekend,” he wrote. “She made tricky downhill shot using my shoulder as a leaning rest and shot with dads 7 mm-08 at about 40m. Then she took a bite from its warm quivering heart, Go Chloe!!”

Two photos accompanying the post showed Chloe posing with the deer and taking a bite out of the heart. The post garnered nearly 20,000 shares before the New Zealand Woman Hunters page was apparently shut down, BuzzFeed reported.

Many commenters on the post criticized the dad’s parenting abilities, while some defended what they described as an old hunting ritual.

The father, who only gave the name Johny, told BuzzFeed he was surprised by the reaction to the photo.

“Chloe and I love our adventures together,” he said. “I’d quote the saying, ‘Lions do not care of the opinions of sheep.’ She wanted to do it when she saw a picture of her uncle biting the heart of his first deer.

“We’re not too serious about it; it’s something some hunters do with the first kill,” he said. “I wouldn’t say [it is] ritualistic, but she is a hunter now.”

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