We have previously followed the controversy over the shooting of “Cecil the Lion” by an American dentist Walter Palmer from Minnesota as well as subsequent controversies of a Idaho hunter taunting animal advocates and killing giant elephants for trophies. A new such controversy ha erupted over social media postings by Tess Thompson Talley posting with herself literally wrapped in the dead body of a black giraffe. The Kentucky woman gleefully posed with the huge dead animal from South Africa.
Talley featured the pictures with the caption: “Prayers for my once in a lifetime dream hunt came true today! Spotted this rare black giraffe bull and stalked him for quite a while. I knew it was the one. He was over 18 years old, 4000 lbs. and was blessed to be able to get 2000 lbs. of meat from him.”
Talley further explained “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.”
The explanation did not stem the outrage over the picture with herself wrapping in the now dead beautiful animal.
The South Africa-based AfricLand Post website posted the pictures with the words: “White american savage who is partly a neanderthal comes to Africa and shoot down a very rare black giraffe courtesy of South Africa stupidity. Her name is Tess Thompson Talley. Please share”.
AfricaDigest@africlandpostWhite american savage who is partly a neanderthal comes to Africa and shoot down a very rare black giraffe coutrsey of South Africa stupidity. Her name is Tess Thompson Talley. Please share
I do a little hunting. But somehow I never pictured myself shooting a Giraffe.
The meat was a by product of this hunt.
I will add a third element of choosing areas that need greening. “In Flanders Field The Poppies Grow, Beneath the Gravestones Row on Rows.??”
Since we have one group best suited for early selection by their own choice the draft laws could be slightly modified to select the nations War Monger Party to man those efforts.watered with their plentiful snow flakes.
If you take this as an ad hominem observe that only applies to thinking reasoning hominems. Ergo Sum. The perfect balance of nature is reached.
second viewpoint and i kept them separate on purpose. Why? To See who could think and who having failed that portion of humanity could then be disregarded… as usual.
From a good steward of the land and natures bounty viewpoint. Was it that rare? One comment pointed out to turn black it was very very very old. We may assume then past the prime and lacking the ability to procreate the species it served by nature’s laws no useful purpose.
One may then insert good steward of natures bounty and as with certan ‘ancient’ trees put them to other good use other than as ihomes for predator species. In this case 2 tons of meat for the locals. Cutting it down earlier in the procreational prime of life would be the crime against nature and humity both and turn one into a Rachel Carson sort of mass murderer especially in times of drought.
Rachel saw not past the end of her nose a failing of most of her kind
Is there any use in life gone past procreational ability? Of course and probably in the area of training the young by example reinforcing instinct or by teaching the use of thinking and reason.
Which means we can safely do away with most politicians and all who claim to be worth while even before procreating. Thus justifying the thought and reason that went into developing a representative constitutional republic of, by, and for, the self governing individual citizen in place of mobocracies and aristocracies.
Now the only problem remaining is disposing of the meat……
Good steward of the land that I am it struck me that explains why cemetaries are always very green.
But for those who, as in my first example, refuse to defend themselves and their own cut to the chase and add any areas in need of greening.
I am not a hunter, myself. I wasn’t raised to it, although many of my family members and friends hunt to fill their freezer. None of them are trophy hunters. Personally, it would be a tremendous thrill to shoot such an animal with my camera. Art is one of my hobbies. If I wouldn’t be scared of lions, and rhinos, and snakes, and disease carrying insect vectors, I’d probably want to bust out my pastels and charcoal and paint that giraffe en plein air.
My favorite characters of Black Panther wasn’t the titular character. He seemed extraneous and boring, a king who would rather play pakour in a cool suit than actually rule. It was the women who were most interesting, especially fierce Okoye. I wonder, if Okoye’s character showed up in Alaska, and dropped a fat, field dressed elk off at a local church to be distributed to the poor, if headlines would read, “African Savage Kills Local Elk for Sport.” I think she would be viewed as a fierce, capable provider.
I can see several sides to this issue.
First, I oppose hunting that serves no higher purpose, like target shooting hummingbirds. I am against killing lions, for example, unless one was a danger to humans, needed to be culled for over population, or some other reason. It’s not illegal, but it would be against my own moral code to kill something just to use for decorative purposes.
The giraffe, at least, fed people who needed it. I wish it hadn’t been killed. It was a beautiful animal. But if it was killed, I would want it’s death to provide for others.
I do not know how they run this preserve. Is it a canned hunt, which I despise? Is this a game preserve where there are natural predators, like lions, who could keep the giraffe populations in check? Or do they allow no lions in to keep the herds managed? I don’t know if this is a fenced area or miles of open bush.
The people whom I know who hunt do so to be self sufficient. It takes quite a bit of skill to learn how to shoot and maintain your weapons, track, find your game, and not miss, especially in dense cover. So when they do take a healthy animal, after all that hard work, they feel pride. Their hard work paid off, they’re skilled, and they put good food on the table by their own hand. It lived wild, the ultimate organic grass fed meat, and it never suffered the horrors of the slaughterhouse. Or for the birders, they could be proud of the dog they trained, and the very difficult shot on the wing. Again, it’s a dinner they provided. Organic, grass fed beef is very expensive. Hunting or even raising your own is a way to eat healthier food, and you don’t worry about workers abusing the animals. (Note that the spread of Chronic Wasting disease is a growing problem on the horizon. If it ever affects ranchers, it will be catastrophic.)
That said, I don’t like trophy hunts. It is against my values. They do make efforts to use the meat for good, fund conservation, and boost the local economies. Big Game hunters funnel a significant amount of money to impoverished nations, who treat their game the way we treat our natural resources, like lumber. A profitable resource to be managed.
How much money do photo safaris and hunters net these countries? What would the cost of banning big game hunting be to the host countries? Could they make it up in eco tourism and other efforts? That is my main issue. These are not affluent nations. It is difficult to say they should end big game hunting in Africa, when it does not affect us financially. It is no loss to us. How much money funds conservation and environmental efforts? The last I checked, it’s a $200 million industry, in Africa alone, although that is only an estimate.
If you want trophy hunting to stop then an animal has to be worth more alive than dead, both financially and culturally. Otherwise, you are going to poor nations and scolding them for making money where they can. Have you seen the average open air marketplace in Namibia where people buy food? The reality of their lives is hard for Americans to grasp. Remember, these are countries that still have hundreds of thousands of literal slaves, each. The standard of living is quite a bit lower than ours.
I recall observing the same issue in South America, where the locals would burn the rainforest to plant crops in the surprisingly poor soil. Most of the nutrients were in the biome. These were people struggling to survive, but foreigners would scold them for wasting their national treasure, the rain forest. Okay. But they still have to eat and make a living. That practicality has to be solved before they can have the leisure to worry about the environment, health of our planet, or future generations.
There is another difference in some of these game hunters and subsistence hunters.
The subsistence hunter maintains his own weapons, hikes into the bush on foot, stalks the deer himself, bleeds it out and field dresses it himself, and then packs it out on his own back. The real work begins when they start dressing the carcass.
They don’t have spotters, trackers, beaters, or packers. It’s all on them, or maybe they have a hunting buddy or family member. The Big Game Hunters often have whole support teams who tell them where their animal is. And don’t get me started on a canned hunt.
I have rescinded your draft notice.
Thus bringing up the Rachel Carson As A Mass Murderer concept.
A woman spends money legally that helps the wildlife conservation cause, provides meat to the local villagers and what do we get, virtue signaling. In the meantime, 23 people were shot over the weekend in Chicago, including 5 children under the age of 15, with a 14 year old boy killed, and not a peep. Perhaps had photos been taken and released of the gang-bangers wrapped in the bodies of their victims, maybe then it would be worth a mention.
Damn.
Our opponents do not care much about human life of what they call the unter mench even if they themselves are the mensheviks.
How proud she must be, her God gave her the blessing of getting out of a 50,000 dollar land rover and paying a guide to point out which rare animal her God wanted dead. As for the pictures of trophy hunters take with their kill, it’s just porno for psychopaths.
Damn Obama and company would fit right in. RINOs, DINOs and all.
I take no joy in hunting but a lot of folks do. It’s legal and benefits the game population so it’s tolerable. As for Africland Post, vilifying people for doing a legal act you disagree with says a lot about the vilifier and less about the vilified.
Taking joy in killing is a disturbing concept.
Until you want the police or the military to protect you because you are too too squeamish or something t protect yourself or your family and then what? Your one size fits al lconcept is very disturbing. Armed with those words why have any law enforcement, any private security guards or any military?
What your attitude breeds in the realm of law enforcement is . Oh that calls for what’s his face’s house who is more likely to sue us in the police force so let’s wait for backup , a senior officer etc etc etc because after all (the unspoken part) why risk our lives for someone who cares nothing for their own lives nor the lives of his /her family?
Taking Joy? What’s that supposed to mean?
Which leads to the next thought. Since the only two legitimate uses we have for government are group protection and now what some loosely call people want to get rid of that I wonder what they are going to do when someone says ‘give it up’ and then pulls the trigger just for fun… and there is no 911.
And to think she thanks GOD for the stalking, and ability to shoot that beautiful animal with a high powered rifle, while the animal has little defense against such a weapon! Had it not been rare, and she had hunted with a spear, some pride and thanks may have been deserved. But it was rare, and she had the advantage. Cheap kill in regards to the money paid, as well as the weapon used!! Disgusting.
It was old, had rhuemy eyes being half blind, was fair game for any meat eater, and probably less than a year to live. that’s why it turned black. it’s a sign of old age in that species.
Completely agree Jonathan. My best to Leslie & the kids.
Human beings are omnivores, for a significant (nearly all) portion of our time as a species, we have hunted and killed as a necessary means to live. The ability to kill, cook, and digest animal meat is what allowed our very brains to evolve into those we carry (a few of us even use them) today.
If she doesn’t like the angry responses she shouldn’t have put her celebratory picture on Twitter. One other thing irked me about her comment. The idea that she was “blessed” and that this kill was an answer to her prayers! She prays for an opportunity to kill animals.
As to her explanation, I don’t buy it or one minute. Even she claimed it was a “rare black giraffe bull” until she was criticized.
Not to be too picky here, but I fail to find any mention of her hurt feelings over the responses, angry or not, that she might have received. As to the rarity of a ‘black giraffe bull’, the rarity arises from the nature of the animal and the dangers of it’s environment–very few manage to live long enough to begin turning ‘black’.
It seems from the discussion in the article that her explanation came after the backlash. That indicates to me that she was attempting to excuse what she did.
I am not a trophy hunter, however, you will notice that she said she got 2000 pounds of meat from the animal. She is making some villagers very happy. She is not taking that meat home.
She wasn’t hunting for the benefit of the villagers. She prayed for the opportunity to kill a trophy animal.
But a ton of meat!