After Shooting a Goat, She Became the Target

It's a predictable cycle: A hunter posts a photo of themselves beaming over the carcass of a fresh kill only to become the target of international condemnation (like this, this, and this, to recall a few). This time, the ire-inducing image shows American Larysa Switlyk, host of Larysa Unleashed on the Wild Television Network, posing with a goat she'd just shot on Scotland's Island of Islay, the New York Times reports. "Such a fun hunt!!," Switlyk writes in the Twitter post. "Hunted hard for a big one for 2 days." Additional photos posted to Switlyk's Twitter account show hunters posing with other dead animals. Sarah Moyes, spokeswoman for animal advocacy group OneKind calls the photos "utterly shocking," saying, "This is not the kind of tourism we should be encouraging in Scotland, let alone allowing to happen in the 21^st century."

Some commenters on social media are more blunt about their displeasure, including "So basically you enjoy killing things? Scary but sad." Others are speaking up to support Switlyk, with one saying, "What’s the problem with going and hunting a goat … and using all parts of the goat, it's quite beautiful." Still others say that hunts are an important part of keeping animal populations in check. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham both acknowledge that the images may be disturbing, but say that hunting wild animals is not illegal, ABC reports, with Cunningham saying she will review the laws. As for Switlyk, she posted on Instagram that she's heading back into the wild for two weeks, "Hopefully that will give enough time for all the ignorant people sending me death threats to get educated on hunting and conservation." (More hunting stories.)