The murder occurred the last year in the South African savannah, and only a few days ago the images of American Tess Thompson Talley, posing next to the body of the giraffe, have gone viral.

Tess Thompson Talley is a wild animal hunter and has already killed dozens of them. Her hobby led her to cross the Atlantic, find the animal in question and chase it so she could take pictures with the corpse of a helpless being in the African country. The huntress of this giraffe justified her actions with the following reasons:

• The animal was old, it was 18 years old, it was too old to reproduce
• The giraffe was attacking other giraffes
• She intended to save the species
• Killing it helps conserve other species and the community

Her defense was an attempt to placate the attacks on social networks by thousands who repudiated this act. Along with these photographs, more murders by her hunting came to light. She states that hunters, companies and for some reason WWF, think that trophy hunting is an effective conservation method because, with the money they raise for each trophy, they can protect the rest of species destining resources to combat poachers.

As sad and inhumane as it may seem, this act of animal violence is not entirely illegal. Its legitimacy allows hunters to chase and kill animals in some African countries such as: South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is here where companies in charge of organizing hunting tours operate, where they charge an amount to go to Africa, kill an animal, and take it back to hang it on the wall of their house. This is “trophy hunting” and is considered a “sport”, but not one accepted by most.

TROPHY HUNT

When a person pays thousands of dollars to a company so they can kill the animal of their choice in cold blood: lions, leopards, tigers, elephants, deer, and in this case, a giraffe ($ 2000 to $ 3000).

According to Iris Ho, of Humane Society International and who closely follows this activity, an estimated 4000 trophy giraffes have been imported to the United States in the last 10 years, and that “probably every day there is a giraffe killed and imported to the US as a hunting trophy”. The population of giraffes has fallen by 40% in the last 30 years according to reports published in 2016 by the International Conservation Union (IUCN). Less than 100,000 giraffes survive in Africa.

Apart from this recent example, a very popular case was that of 2015, the murder of the famous lion Cecil by an American dentist. Another case was that of the former King of Spain Juan Carlos I when he killed an elephant.

Hunting does not benefit anyone else but the pleasure of its executor. As Iris Ho said, “wildlife tourism is much more beneficial for animals and local communities than trophy hunting.” We can’t stand by this “activity”, no animal deserves to die in cold blood just for the sake of a human’s fun o r adrenaline rush.

We invite you to find out more about what happens every day in relation to this topic, search Instagram #puma and see what pops up, you will find daily or weekly photos of hunters posing with the body of this great cat. If you reject this “sport” share this blog.

Sources:

https://www.elperiodico.com/es/extra/20180703/tess-thompson-talley-asesina-jirafa-negra-6922922
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/giraffe-killed-by-american-woman-tess-thompson-talley-sparks-outrage/

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTERS