American hunter vilified for posing with rare black giraffe defends kill

Tess Thompson Talley said she thanked God for providing her 'dream hunt'

An American hunter who killed a rare black giraffe in South Africa has defended her actions. On a hunt in South Africa last year Tess Thompson Talley shot the 4,000lb bull giraffe, but pictures of her celebrating and giving thanks for the kill recently went viral on Twitter. https://twitter.com/africlandpost/status/1008018728879992833 When the 37-year-old hunter from Kentucky originally posted the pictures she wrote: "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." Ricky Gervais responded by tweeting giraffes are at risk of extinction and that the people who kill them are "cunts." [caption id="attachment_187592" align="alignnone" width="1280"] (Credit: Africalandpost)[/caption] In a statement given to Fox News Talley 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. "This is called conservation through game management. https://twitter.com/DebraMessing/status/1011761634333818880 "I get that hunting is not for everyone. That’s what makes this world great is the differences. But to make threats to anyone because they don’t believe the way you do is completely unacceptable. "If it was any other belief that was different, threats and insults would be deemed hideous. However, for some reason it is OK to act this way because it’s hunting."