Trophy hunter says she's 'proud to hunt' in wake controversy over viral giraffe photo

Kerry Justich
June 7, 2019

KILLING FOR A TROPHY OR SPORT IS NOT HUNTING IT IS MURDER 



Tess Talley is speaking out for the first time after this photo of her beside a rare giraffe — which she killed — went viral. (Photo: Twitter/AfricaDigest)More


The American hunter who drew lots of criticism for a photo of her posing with the body of a giraffe that she killed is speaking out for the first time about how she is “proud to hunt.”

Tess Talley is the trophy hunter who was at the center of controversy in June 2018 when the photo of her alongside her kill surfaced on a Twitter account called AfricaDigest. In the tweet, Talley was called a “white American savage” for shooting a rare black giraffe during a hunting trip in South Africa. Now, after facing widespread condemnation, the hunter told CBS This Morning that she’s still hunting.


NEW: Trophy hunter Tess Talley says she is "proud to hunt" and is "proud of that giraffe.” https://t.co/thQSSkh8jU pic.twitter.com/wvUss8QoUQ— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) June 7, 2019

“It’s a hobby, it’s something that I love to do,” Talley said in the interview on Friday. “I am proud to hunt and I am proud of that giraffe.”

Although she enjoys hunting and even looks gleeful in the picture alongside her kill, Talley went on to say that the particular hunt was a “conservation hunt.”

“We are preserving the wildlife,” Talley said. “We are managing herds, we’re managing numbers of wildlife.”

Still, many people don’t believe that to be true, especially after Talley shared with CBS that she now has a gun case and multiple pillows decorated with the hide of the giraffe, whose meat she said was “delicious.”


Tess Talley bragged to the press that she was proud of killing the giraffe, even saying that she used the animal’s remains to create decorative pillows and a gun case.https://t.co/fs5au9l1Sf— Dan Broadbent 🚀 (@aSciEnthusiast) June 7, 2019


It’s not a “harvest” #TessTalley

The giraffe had a life, and it had value to our Earth.
You exist to take life for your “hobby” feeding your shallow hubris.

Now this creature’s hide is your gun case, and PILLOWS...which “everybody loves!”

Could you be more heartless? pic.twitter.com/lUR0hx7DX2— 🔥 𝕍𝕖𝕤𝕦𝕧𝕚𝕦𝕤 🔥 (@PentUpPower) June 7, 2019


Native Americans used to hunt animals like buffalo and used every bit of them, for food, clothing, and more. They considered the animals sacred. #TessTalley proud of killing a harmless giraffe, having no need to hunt, no use for the rest of the animal?

Deplorable. 🙄#hunting https://t.co/kpncE79eKm— Darth Continent (@DarthContinent) June 7, 2019


Tess “Cruella de Vil” Talley is proud to shoot a defenseless animal that is on the verge of becoming endangered. What a psychopath. https://t.co/2sdJgj7Sct— Justin McCarthy 🌹🌅 (@jaymac1893) June 7, 2019

That #TessTalley finds joy in killing any animal is disgusting, but the fact that the @IUCNjust issued an alarming report about the rapid rate of decline in the giraffe population, which could push the species to the edge of extinction is horrifying.— Adam (@AdamInChicago) June 7, 2019

When asked to further explain her conservation argument, Talley ultimately said, “It's tough. It's a science. It's really hard. I'm not a conservationist, I'm a hunter.”