Tess Thompson Talley, a 37-year-old Irish American woman from Kentucky, is facing a massive wave of protest after she hunted down and killed a rare black giraffe during a hunting trip to South Africa.

She later wrote on social media:

“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.”

In return Africa Digest publication called her a “white American savage who is partly Neanderthal.”

White 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 pic.twitter.com/hSK93DOOaz

— AfricaDigest (@africlandpost) June 16, 2018

Celebrities and activists have also attacked her. Ricky Gervais sent a tweet that is unprintable.

The musician Moby called her “broken and soulless” and the TV journalist John Simpson called her an “idiot woman”.

On 27 June, Hollywood actress Debra Messing wrote:

“Tess Thompson Talley from Nippa, Kentucky, is a disgusting, vile, amoral, heartless, selfish murderer,” adding that she has a “black heart”.

In 2015, American dentist Walter Palmer shot dead Cecil the lion a well-known and beloved animal outside Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe and sparked international outrage.

There are less than 100,000 giraffes on the planet and are close to being on the endangered list.

Rich Americans go on “trophy hunting” trips to South Africa and Zimbabwe and pay to shoot dead rare animals. Large amounts of money changes hands and very rare animals die.

Thompson released a statement to CBS News.

“This is called conservation through game management,” she said, explaining that the giraffe that she hunted was old and prone to attacking younger giraffes.

“Now that the giraffe is gone, the younger bulls are able to breed.”