An American TV presenter and hunter sparked public outrage after posting pictures to social media of her Scotland hunting trip and now faces criminal charges.
Larysa Switlyk, host of “Larysa Unleashed,” didn’t break any hunting laws with her highly publicized trip, but local authorities hope to charge her under a law that details how one can use borrowed shotguns the Daily Mail reported.
In response, Scottish Parliament member Roseanna Cunningham posted a statement via Twitter about potentially even changing the law to reflect the outrage.
“We fully understand why so many people find these images of hunted animals being held up as trophies so upsetting. Responsible and appropriate culling of animals is a necessary part of sustainable land management and the culling of some wild animals, including deer and goats, is not illegal. However, we understand the concerns caused by these images and, in light of them, the environment secretary will review the situation and consider whether any clarification of or changes to the law might be required,” read Cunningham’s post.
Also in response, Switlyk launched a set of T-shirts she is selling via her website. She writes that 100 percent of the proceeds from sales will go toward conservation efforts.
The T-shirts contain slogans that include “Don’t let me get your goat,” ‘“Barbaric’ Hunter,” and “Eat more goat.”
Switlyk’s social media accounts contain many photos of her hunting adventure trips, including her posing with her kills, all smiles.
In one photo on Twitter where she is pictured holding up fresh meat from her hunt, she wrote:
“Nature is my supermarket. Fresh organic wild meat w/ no steroids, hormones or antibiotics. This is where my meat comes from, do you know where your meat comes from? I’ll NEVER apologize for being a hunter! Feel free 2block me if you don’t like my post,won’t hurt my feelings any.”
Although many of the comments under the post by Cunningham agree with controlling the animal population through culling, they seem to object to the way the culling is portrayed.
“Don’t think Americans in combat gear with sniper rifles taking congratulatory selfies qualifies as “responsible culling,” commented @ruth_wishart.
In another exchange on Twitter, commenter @ZuluEleven said he was paid to do the culling himself, but the government had no money to pay for the services of full-time professional animal cullers. He also comments that the Scottish Highlands have for centuries run the business of hunting tourism.
A link to Athina Sporting posted in the comments indeed shows a company advertising hunting trips in Scotland. Animals up for hunting include grouse, woodcock, snipe, red deer, roe deer, and wild goat. The website also includes instructional hunting videos.
