‘Do the world a favor and kill yourself already before someone else makes you disappear.’

The latest outrage over a 12-year-old girl’s Facebook photos of her hunting expedition in Africa reveals just how hateful social justice warriors can be.

After posting pictures of a dead zebra and giraffe, Aryanna Gourdin from Cove, Utah, received a tidal wave of hateful criticism, including death threats. In response to one picture of Gourdin proudly standing over her kill, one online commenter said, “Literally hope someone skins you.” Another said, “Do the world a favor and kill yourself already before someone else makes you disappear.” Remember, this girl is only 12!

Gourdin traveled with her father, Eli, to South Africa last week to hunt big game, not only with guns but bows and arrows. Despite one’s opinion on hunting, her skills should be applauded, as should her courage to do something few women do. Safaris and hunting big game used to be reserved for men. Yet here she is, bravely pushing barriers that should have feminists applauding.

Instead, her life is being threatened. It seems an animal—a non-rational, soulless creature—is more important than a girl who is living out her dreams, refusing to be bound by her sex or age, and spending quality time with her father.

This Is a Young Lady to Celebrate

We bemoan the loss of parental involvement in the lives of children today, especially fathers, and here is a girl joining her dad out in nature and learning a skill most girls never learn. She and her father should be praised, not ridiculed.

Some have also complained that white people (yes, they have to bring race into it) shouldn’t be in Africa enjoying themselves on safari and hunting game while there is so much human suffering across the continent. But as Louisa Lombard wrote at The New York Times a couple of years ago, safaris with their improved regulations are “helping to maintain islands of relative peace in remote parts of the country” by providing much-needed employment. As other industries collapse and thereby creating conflict in the region, the safari industry is maintained, promoting peace.

So, not only is Gourdin a girl who should make any good feminist proud, she is actively involved in sustaining a valuable industry in a country that struggles with conflict and poverty. How many other kids her age can even compare?

Instead of sitting at home playing video games, she’s traveling the world, learning about life in other cultures, spending time with her family, and developing skills of concentration, focus, and steadiness that will help her in any area of her life.

Haters Gonna Hate; Girl Gonna Rock

According to an interview with “Good Morning America,” Gourdin said she posted the pictures online because she wanted to share with others what she experienced. It was a dream she had realized, and she was proud of her accomplishments.

“We’re proud to be hunters, and we’ll never apologize for being a hunter,” her father said.

Eli maintains the hunting farm the Gourdins visited offered the giraffe for them to hunt because it was a problem animal. “They actually had an older giraffe that was eating up valuable resources other giraffes need to survive,” he said.



He also said the meat from the animals they killed was donated to a local village and will feed 800 orphans over the next month.

So add charity to the list of Gourdin’s accomplishments. But the haters won’t appreciate that. They won’t stop their vicious attacks long enough to see the admirable way this girl is living her life. They’re so programmed by their own animal rights agenda and driven by emotions that they fail to see reason or the good in something they don’t like. Even worse, they treat another human being as unworthy even of life.

Thankfully, Gourdin isn’t backing down from doing what she enjoys. “I am a hunter and no matter what people say to me, I’m never going to stop,” she said. That’s exactly what we should expect from a young girl who carries a bow and takes down big game with her dad. Gourdin should receive our admiration and praise, not our hate.