Tess Thompson Talley is being deemed a “White American Savage” after 2017 photos resurfaced of her holding a rifle in hand while proudly grinning in front of a fallen giraffe. She’s since been shuffling to defend herself. 

According to The New York Times, the photos are from a South Africa trip from last June, but Africa Digest recently posted the photos leaving viewers to wonder why some white folks have such a fascination with hunting already endangered species. 

The publication followed up its initial post by calling for citizens to have a united voice against the pillaging of Africa and to take responsibility for the "continent, lands, resources and wildlife" if the government won't. "It's the only home we have."

The photos' revival has incited backlash from the masses including Debra Messing and Ricky Gervais. Adding insult to injury, the International Red List of Threatened Species lists giraffes as vulnerable due to their population decline of 36 percent to 40 percent over three generations. The decline comes mostly at the hands of habitat loss, civil unrest and illegal hunting.

In what seems to be a move to save face amid the backlash, Talley has released a media statement claiming that her hunt was a move to conserve the animals through “game management." She argues that the animal shot was too old to breed and had killed three younger bulls.

“The giraffe I hunted was the South African subspecies of giraffe. The numbers of this subspecies 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,” Thompson said according to The Today Show.

According to hunting group Safari Club International's president Paul Babaz, hunting giraffes is legal in South Africa. However, history has shown that everything legal isn't always ethical. 

“Hunters hunt them because hunters like to hunt,” said Rick Parsons, the chief executive of Safari Club International. “The conservation is a result of taking this desire to hunt and managing it. That’s the key concept in wildlife conservation today.”

According to Kentucky's Courier-Journal,  Talley's original caption seemed to read more into hunting for fun than any form of preservation. 

“Prayers for my once in a lifetime dream hunt came true today!” she said in the Facebook post that has since been deleted, the newspaper reported. 

She said she had stalked the animal and later got “2,000 lbs. of meat from him.”

Having a lifetime dream of killing a giraffe is a bit unusual, but OK girl. 

GiraffesSouth-AfricaTrophy HuntingWhite woman