Celebs share shocking trophy hunting photo that has gone viral

Killing animals for sport is controversial, particularly under the harsh glare of social media.

Now an image of a hunter with an enormous dead leopard is going viral after being shared by stars like Naomi Campbell to criticise big-game hunting.

In her post, supermodel Naomi Campbell identified the woman as a member of the Safari Club International. She asked her followers to contact the Tucson-based organization, writing, “call them and give them a piece of your mind.”

The model’s caption was reposted from David Bonnouvrier, who originally posted about the Safari Club on his own Instagram page. Bonnouvrier is a co-founder of Knot on My Planet, an organization that works to stop ivory poaching and save elephants.

The origin of the photo is unclear, and Bonnouvrier didn’t tag anyone in his Instagram post. But whoever the woman is, people are outraged that she apparently killed a leopard.

Victoria’s Secret model Doutzen Kroes also shared the shocking snap, writing in her caption “the woman in the picture should be ashamed of herself.” And model Carré Otis wrote in her Instagram post that the photo shows “unconsciousness hard at work.”

The models shared the photo using the hashtag #stopbiggamehunting.

Model Marpessa, meanwhile, also encouraged her followers to contact the Safari Club International, writing, “CALL them, TROLL them and REPOST and give them a piece of your mind.” (For the record, the Safari Club International’s own Instagram page features images of live — and occasionally, taxidermied — animals, not carcasses.)

Actor and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards also shared the photo, writing, “I know this is upsetting to see but if we don’t speak up this will never stop.”

The woman in the photo is only the latest person to be called out for big-game hunting. Tess Thompson Talley was criticized in July for sharing a photo of herself with a giraffe she’d killed last year. Westworld actor Jeffrey Wright weighed in on that controversy, calling Talley a “self-obsessed lunatic colonizer.”

President Trump’s sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have also been criticised for participating in big-game hunting trips.

And while he’s not involved in big-game hunting, actor Chris Pratt also faced backlash this weekend for sharing a now-deleted Instagram video about his love of hunting.

For proponents of hunting for sport, it’s safe to expect backlash to any social media posts about the activity. Plenty of celebrities — and, of course, other people – don’t approve of the practice, and they’re not afraid to say so.

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