Animals, Bizarre, Environment

American Television Host Denounced After She Posts Pictures With Dead Animals

As many on this blog know, I am no fan of trophy hunting (here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here). The latest controversy centers on Larysa Switlyk, 33, who is a trophy hunter from Sarasota, Florida who recently posed with dead animals on the island of Islay, Scotland with Instagram photos during the hunt.  With her boyfriend Jason and another American, they shot an assortment of goats, stags, and sheep and then gleefully demonstrated the kill. I find these images entirely perplexing why people get such a thrill for such kills. I also fail to see the pride in posing with a beautiful animal that you just destroyed — let alone traveling around the world just to shoot their native wildlife for fun. In this case, shooting a bunch of sheep does not even strike me as challenging. There is simply the thrill of killing beautiful animals.

Police are looking into firearms offenses after an uproar caused by the posting of the images.

She is facing a charge under Section 11a of the Firearms Act, relating to the use of borrowed shotguns. That sounds pretty manufactured and weak. Either it is illegal to trophy hunt or it is not. Police should not come up with strained charges based on public outcry. However, that does not mean that such a trophy hunter should not be condemned or the practice reexamined.

We recently discussed how a trophy hunter killed the most famous and beloved wolf in Yellowstone National Park after “Spitfire” wandered slightly outside of the park.  We previously discussed the shooting of one of the last wolves from the most famous pack in Denali National Park in Alaska under similar circumstances.

Switlyk is the star of Larysa Unleashed which purports to “enlighten and educate the general population about why people hunt and fish, the importance of conservation, cultural experiences, and the rules and regulations behind it.” She previously has attracted criticism, including a picture on an all-women hunting trip where she posed with a bloody sex toy over a dead sheep. In that trip, British hunter Jenna Gearing said she left early because she was disgusted by Switlyk’s attitude and the conduct of the American women on the trip.

US television presenter Larysa Switlyk is facing firearms charges after police in Scotland investigated her time hunting on the island of Islay in September


66 thoughts on “American Television Host Denounced After She Posts Pictures With Dead Animals”

  1. I do not know, neither do I care to know what third world country you reside in. That stated, as usual another social media idiot commenting on subject matter they are absolutely clueless about. As for myself, I have never in my entire life ingested any type of animal flesh. I find the flesh of any walking creature to be vile, in relation to eating them. So in essence social media comment idiot. Clue up. Get a life.

    1. ryanindaswamp – I eat meat all the time. You name it, I probably have eaten it. I eat it gleefully.

      1. Honestly dude. Get a life. Again. If I want any of your fat lip I’ll wiggle my zipper. As well idiot.
        Stay the hell off my Site.
        Got that punk.

      2. Honestly dude. Get a life.
        Again.
        If I want any of your lip I’ll wiggle my zipper.h
        I Am I Clear idiot.
        Your mama problem an idiot too.
        As well, stay the hell of off of my Site.
        Got that punk.
        Oh Yeah.
        Have a nice day.

      3. Paul:

        You gotta love a vegan surfer “dude” throwing down with you, Paul. He’s “hundo P” into it until the next big wave then he’s “skurt” off to the beach. Hang ten, man! LOL

  2. These trophy hunters are the reason I support the Second Amendment right to arm bears.

    1. That’s hillirious my Man. I’m straight up rollin. Can you picture it. Yogi Bear, Boo Boo Bear rolling A & D, toting Ar 15’s. Smoking The Bear bringing up the rear flank toting his RPG-7. Now that’s hunting.

  4. I agree with you Mr. Turley.
    Hunting wild animals for the ‘Thrill’ of it employing high power rifles as far as I am concerned is murder.
    Some would call this heinous act sport.
    As well I find it reprehensible that individuals pursue this so called sport for the benefit of mounting their trophies on their walls.
    I find absolutely no reason to participating in the killing of any creation.
    I speak as a former United States Marine Combat Veteran.
    As well, this senseless murder of Innocent animals plays absolutely zero role regarding ones survival.
    If an individual wants to pursue this outright savagery, enlist a bow & arrow.

    1. Ħѳѡ ӎäﬡƴ ḯﬡﬡѳḉϵﬡţ äﬡḯӎäłƨ ħäⱴϵ ƴѳǔ ϵäţϵﬡ ḯﬡ ţħϵ łäƨţ ţѡϵﬡţƴ ƴϵäᴦƨ ѳƒ ƴѳǔᴦ łḯƒϵ?

      1. Darren, I always assumed that any animal meat products I’ve consumed have been from guilty animals.😄

        2. Tom Nash – if you could see the mess they leave a field in, you know they are not innocent. Oh, yes, they look at you with those big brown eyes and pretend to be innocent. But they are guilty as hell. Death to all Herefords!!!

      2. More than I can count. They should be slaughtered, drained of their blood, sliced into steaks and cutlets and served to those of us who are unwilling to turn our backs on 300, 000 years of hominid evolution.

      3. Thanks man.
        Apologize for the late get back.
        Been legally blind for 23 months.
        Eyesight finally back due to great doctor.
        Yippeee!!!
        Thanks again Brother.
        Much appreciated.

    2. ryanindaswamp – Audie Murphy, America’s most decorated WWII hero, author of “To Hell and Back” and star of many movies, including “To Hell and Back,” once said that if it were not for hunting season, he would be out killing humans. He said that as a combat veteran with the Medal of Honor and probably hundreds of dead Germans under his belt.

      1. You sir, are prime example why I stay far the hell away from social media and the Morons who reside there. I as well find it hilarious in a sad idiotic way, when civilians such as yourself, who have never served in a combat theatre, much less in the military-to comment on subject matter that you haven’t an inkling of a remote clue about. Then to comment, based on another’s individuals life experience. That stated. I’m sure that you have had a sat down with Audie Murphy to discuss his animal hunting experiences with you. Oh. He’s been dead too long for that factual conversation ever taking place. Stick to what you actually know, whatever the hell that may entail. In essence idiot. Get a life. Buy a life. Steal a life. If I want any of your lip, I’ll wiggle my zipper. Oh Yeah, have a nice day. 😎👌

          1. David Benson is the God Emperor of Making Stuff Up and owes me twenty-four citations (one from the OED, one from the town ordinances and two from the Old Testament), an equation and the source of a quotation, after twenty-eight weeks, and needs to cite all his work from now on. – David, you don’t even have a single barrel. BTW, since it is break, now would be a great time to get me my citations. You are now twenty-eight weeks behind.

              1. David Benson is the God Emperor of Making Stuff Up and owes me twenty-four citations (one from the OED, one from the town ordinances and two from the Old Testament), an equation and the source of a quotation, after twenty-eight weeks, and needs to cite all his work from now on. – Happy New Year to you, too. 😉

              2. Roger that my Man. The unfortunate realty regarding Mr. Schulte.
                Dude way beyond any Behaivor Heath prognosis.
                Afraid the only resolve regarding Mr. Shulte’s condition is the Jerry Garcia LSD Diet administered on an hourly basis.

          3. Thanks Dude for the props
            Apologize for the late get back.
            Been legally blind for 23 months.
            Finally.
            Eyesight back
            Yippeee!
            Ryan

  5. I stopped hunting more than 45 years ago. I stopped because, at my father’s house, you ate what you killed and you cleaned or dressed what you killed yourself. I really didn’t like dressing venison or elk and so I stopped hunting. But I retained an appreciation for the complexity of hunting, the discipline of good hunting skills and forest craft, and the dedication to taking a good shot. As in anything (even among lawyers), there are good and bad, ethical and unethical, skilled and unskilled. To tar them all with the same brush, does them and you Professor Turley a disservice. I have never seen a hunter gleefully pose with an animal. I have seen many do so proudly. That you do not understand their point of view or what is required to become a skilled hunter suggests you have never tried to understand it. As in so many things, politics and hunting included:

    “He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion… Nor is it enough that he should hear the opinions of adversaries from his own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompanied by what they offer as refutations. He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them…he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.”

    From “On Liberty” by J.S. Mill. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34901?msg=welcome_stranger

    Try getting in their shoes before being too critical.

    1. Very articulate Sir.
      So right about other people’s shoes.
      As the musician Everlast states in his song ‘What It’s Like’.
      Never judge another until you walk in their shoes.
      I do most certainly get your point regarding your Fathers path in life.
      Had an uncle up in Northern Cali, hunted to survive. I as well grew tired of dressing the meat.
      As well, your point in regards to politics is right on.
      Such a sad state of affairs.
      As General/President George Washington stated on that Saturday in 1796 when he gave his farewell speech, wherein he stated;
      “I seriously warn this country against political parties of all sorts. For political parties serve only one purpose and that purpose is to devide a Free Republic in hate. Then over a period of time, One political party amasses more power and wealth than the other, there by dividing a country”.
      Look around Sir.
      Thank you for your insight.

  6. In that trip, British hunter Jenna Gearing said she left early because she was disgusted by Switlyk’s attitude and the conduct of the American women on the trip. US television presenter Larysa Switlyk is facing firearms charges after police in Scotland investigated her time hunting on the island of Islay in September

    The dollop of Eurotrashiness is one thing that might persuade me that these women had been traduced to a degree.

    1. Tsk, tsk, tsk, having just a little knowledge often leads to poor analysis. Scottish black faced sheep live in the coldest harshest climates in Great Britain. They are mountain sheep. Wild sheep can sense predators from several hundred yards off in good conditions. If the hunter walks climbs and/or crawls into position and the shot doesn’t materialize (and many times it does not), then they have to walk, climb or crawl to a new one. Maybe it happens, maybe it doesn’t. The shot may be taken from four or five hundred yards out. This isn’t a video game. Nor are these sheep domesticated. My comments above about JS Mill apply here as well.

  8. City Folks get to have abortions by the millions but don’t show the dead carcasses. Best stay in the cities but you are a real reminder of why we have an Electoral College.

    1. Touche, Michael. I used to picket abortion centers in the 80s and 90s, and when we carried posters showing pictures of aborted babies, the pro-aborts would go apoplectic. They looked like Linda Blair in the “Exorcist” when we exposed what they were really killing…..a defenseless life

  9. ” In that trip, British hunter Jenna Gearing said she left early because she was disgusted by Switlyk’s attitude and the conduct of the American women on the trip.”

    I am appalled and disgusted by the attitude and conduct of most American women of my generation. A bunch of tramps, whores, dope fiends, and canvases for crummy tattoos. Not to even get into all the STDs. I suspect that Larysa would be a piece of work even if she didn’t kill animals for fun.

    Squeeky Fromm
    Girl Reporter

    1. Squeeky Fromm. No shit. Is This the real Squeeky Fromm from way back in the day?

  10. @antonio,

    it’s the part about the bloody sex toy that is disgusting to me. Healthy hunting is not perverse. Equating bloody sex toys w/your kill is perverse. I am fairly conservative in my behaviors but have never aligned myself with the so-called conservative political class which seems to have lost it’s way….and I have been told I’m not hard on the eyes either 😉

    1. Becka G:

      I’m with you Becka. That sex toy thing is a red flag for me too about this women’s psyche. I don’t decry the hunting aspects but the primitive back-slapping looks perverse. Oh, and the most important beauty starts on the inside as you seem to acknowledge.

        1. Becka G – there are women that do extremely disgusting things. The most disgusting jokes I ever heard were told by women. So disgusting I could not tell them to men. There are women who will eat their own afterbirth. Do you think a bloody sex toy is going to be off-putting?

  11. Trophy hunters need to have their heads cut off and nailed on a fire hydrant outside a grammar school where they attended as youngins.

    1. So, you are proposing as a remedy for things that are permitted, not illegal, even if found disgusting by a majority of the population, something that is quite clearly illegal and taps into ISIS-like levels of disgust. Very logical, indeed.

        1. The beheading fantasy was the link to ISIS.

          It is not ethical to murder people who are not breaking the law, even if they are not nice people.

      2. VeloMac – one of the things about a Republican Democracy is that it protects the minority from the majority, sometimes.

  12. Beautiful ram and buck. That’s a shame. The buck is especially beautiful.

    Hunting has a long history in UK. I don’t know about the sheep and goats, but I found this information regarding hunting red deer on Islay:

    http://www.callumkill.com/staticpages/index.php/sport-at-callumkill

    “A relation of about 3.000 inhabitants and 5.000 red deer shows that deer are a substantial part of Islay. Deer and wildlife management are key to ensuring herd health and protecting fauna. We are part of the Islay Deer Management Group and have a culling policy which works sympathetically with the farm and preservation of our ancient oak woodlands. For this reason our stalker will select the animals to be culled.”

    Humans are the only big predators on Islay. The wolves were wiped out long ago. Deer continue to breed like a prey species under heavy predation, however, so culling is required to protect the environment, and to prevent the more natural restriction of the deer starving due to over population.

    I firmly support subsistence hunting. It is an independent way to put fresh, healthy food on the table, along with gardening and fishing. I don’t care for trophy hunting. However, when a population needs to be culled, such as lions, sometimes only trophy hunters would be interested. In this instance, I believe that Ms Switlyk wanted to experience a Scottish country hunt, a component of English literature for centuries. Some hunters take photographs of their catch to memorialize it, or to prove that a buck really was that big. However, I don’t like a gleeful attitude towards it. I don’t hunt myself, but have many friends and family who do. I like the old school way of gratitude towards the animal for providing food for a family. The animal lives wild and free, and is spared the horrors of the slaughter house or abattoir. With all that she hunted, it seems like too much for her to eat, and old goat and mutton taste bad. This leaves the question of why she did it. Are a certain number of animals up to be culled, and she was thrilled at the chance to shoot European game?

    Hunting is either legal or illegal. It seems unfair to bring the weight of public censure and shame upon someone for engaging in a legal activity. She may have a bad attitude, but if you don’t like trophy hunting, then change the law rather than persecute those who legally engage in it. There is also the reality that mankind has removed or diminished most predator populations. There is no more smilodon, dire wolf, and the gray wolf has lost most of its territory. That leaves the wild prey it used to hunt left to breed unchecked. The wildlife management solution to a burgeoning population is usually culling. It’s sad. It upsets people. I hate wasting life. But what else are you going to do? Animals are culled every day. The sin was to post a photo of her gloating about it that called the public’s attention.

    1. I do have a suggestion for how to improve culling. Left to their own devices, hunters select the young, fit, healthy animals. Wolves bring down the old, weak, sick, and the very young. Except for the predation on fawns, wolves strengthen herds. They exert the natural section force for healthy, strong individuals who are fleet and smart enough to evade predators. Humans remove the best specimens from the herds, weakening the gene pool.

      In a cull situation, I would prefer that wildlife management select animals that are sick, old, or otherwise unsuitable. They should strive to select animals as a predator would. Otherwise, over vast amounts of time, herd genetics will weaken.

      That, of course, is different than hunting, when you really do want the healthiest meat you can find on the hoof.

      I couldn’t hunt, personally. I’d name everything and then it would be over. That’s how I ended up with a few roosters. “It’ll be fine to let my hen hatch fertilized eggs,” I told my husband. “I won’t make pets out of the Roos and will send them to be processed. We’ll have meat we raised healthily and humanely. This breed only comes straight run.” It’s been a few years now of waking up at the first photon of ligh in the sky to my roosters. What can I do? They’re sweet and follow me around, and so they got names. I’m an acknowledged hypocrite, since I’m an omnivore.

      1. Karen S – the first rule of farming/ranching: 1) if it is live and you are going to later eat it, DO NOT name it. 😉

      2. LOL! I feel your painful struggle. Every year we would visit my Uncles house and eat Ferdinand the bull. We thren also met the new “Ferdinand” and loved him to distraction. He enjoyed the love so I felt less guilt eating him….and he was homegrown, grass fed and delicious…God bless you all you Ferdinands…..

    2. I agree totally. Culling is necessary to protect the general health of the Eco-system. I would advocate for bring the wolves back, culling in lesser amounts…..Wolves would guarantee that the weakest get culled naturally and the oversight from an emotionally and psychologically healthy oversight commitee (yup, minus the bloody sex toy gee I wanna share EVERYTHING with tyhose I deam lesser than me weirdos….) would permit a much healthier environment. Real environmental conservatives are more likely to pray and thank their ‘prey’ rather than display it for personal woots. I see so much wastage that could be averted here….

  13. To the good, tolerant and decent Professor Turley:

    I read your posts regularly, and get it, you don’t like trophy hunting (or hunters) and think it should be banned. But as long as over hunting is not allowed and proper licensing and conservation practices are followed, why can’t you be “pro-choice” about the practice, as you claim to be about gay marriage, abortion and free speech?

    Of course, most liberals are only “pro-choice” about practices they approve of and have no problem with banning others. And they do so, only because ignorant, bigoted individuals don’t know what is good for them.

    Just saw Larysa’s website and think I will buy some of her gear. And she’s easy on the eyes too!

    A bit off topic but non-politically correct, conservative women tend to be much more attractive than SJW’s.

    antonio

    1. I do not see her being “gleeful.” That is just a regular smile. As someone who has lived in hunting country, I have seen 1000s of those smiling photos. The only one that appeared gleeful was a guy to got an 18 point buck. That would have sent my little heart going faster, too. 🙂 That picture appeared front page, above the fold, on the daily paper.

      1. A genre of hunting photos is proof of accomplishment. The pic of the enormous fish hung next to a full grown man for scale, the buck with all the points… Otherwise it’s a fish story.

    2. Of course, most liberals are only “pro-choice” about practices they approve of and have no problem with banning others.

      Good post Antonio. Turley says: I find these images entirely perplexing why people get such a thrill for such kills.

      Perplexing? JT, your moral outrage is perplexing when there are plenty of videos showing people in the abortion industry also thrilled describing what they do and you remain silent. The abortionists should have their own magazine and perhaps host a TV show with the abortion practitioners and mothers posing with their trophy. But of course we can’t have that. The rights of the mother to…

      If you’re perplexed at hunting animals for the thrill and food it provides but have no such emotion with regard to killing human babies for nothing more than to terminate a pregnancy and their parts, then you might need to get your moral compass calibrated.

      1. “there are plenty of videos showing people in the abortion industry also thrilled describing what they do” prove it, liar.

      2. I nearly all the way to approving of legalized abortion now. The kinds of selfish women who are so quick to abort should not spread their filthy defective genes into the gene pool now. They mostly would make bad mothers I am sure. The unborn do not get a chance at life which is sad for them but then again life is sad for most people who live anyways.

        I am starting to see Margaret Sanger’s way of thinking more and more. It may seem cruel but cruelty is probably where it’s all headed anyways. 2019 may be the tipping point. Si vis pacem…..

        1. Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.

          It certainly would be a less rigorous route to where we are headed. However to take the apathetic approach is equally selfish. I don’t argue in defense of natural rights (life, liberty, property) for what I can gain out of it. And I really don’t do it because I believe it will make a difference today, or next week, or next year. I do it because I know some time in the future people will finally be aggrieved enough, insecure of their rights enough, that they will be looking for answers. It’s my way of keeping the fire burning, even if it’s not putting off much heat.

      3. Sorry, not today. The bygone days when women were the chattel property of their nearest male relative are over. News flash, those “good ‘ole days” aren’t coming back, either, no matter what kind of wackjob buffoon you and your ilk vote for. In modern times, women are in control of their own lives–which includes their bodies and reproductive system. So, rather than hide behind the imaginary bodies of make-believe children, you might accept that women are equals, and you and your ilk aren’t every going to “own” another woman. I understand your dismay and sadness–but perhaps better social skills, hygiene, and some exercise would make you more acceptable to the point where you might get some interaction with a real, live, woman.

        this is to “so Handmaid’s Tale isn’t gonna come true?!” olly

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