Sabrina Corgatelli is a female hunter from Idaho who, in light of the worldwide outrage over the killing of Cecil the Lion by American dentist Walter Palmer , is going out of her way to stick her love for killing wild animals directly in the faces of the thousands, and perhaps millions, of people who have expressed anger and revulsion at Palmer.
(For an update to this story, please scroll down.)
At least, that’s what her Facebook page — actually at least two Facebook pages — claim.
But they seem to contain ample photographic evidence of the fact that, if Corgatelli has not actually killed the animals herself, she has no hesitation about posing for pictures with a variety of slain wildlife.
Corgatelli’s latest post appeared on July 31. She seems to currently be participating in a Safari in South Africa with a group of men, including Aaron Neilson, whose own Facebook page identifies him as a professional hunter. Corgatelli and Neilson lost themselves as “in a relationship.”
Neilson’s page includes a photo of himself and Corgatelli, along with their hunting group, with a slain lion.
The photo on Corgatelli’s own page, which has so far sparked the greatest outrage, is one of several she posted of herself with a dead giraffe, which she says she “got.”
“I got a amazing old Giraffe. Such a amazing animal!!… I couldn’t be any happier!! My emotion after getting him was a feeling I will never forget!!!”
UPDATE: After her Facebook photos received worldwide attention over the weekend, Corgatelli spoke to NBC’s Today Show Monday morning, calling giraffes “very dangerous animals,” that could “hurt you seriously very quickly.”
She also told host Carson Daly that she respects the animals she has killed, but that her own personal problems have made her more devoted to hunting.
“To me it’s not just killing an animal, it’s the hunt. There’s a lot of personal things in my life that have happened recently that have added to that,” she told Daly. “I won’t get into that or disclose those feelings. Everybody just thinks we’re cold-hearted killers, and it’s not that. There is a connection with the animal, and just because we hunt them doesn’t mean we don’t have a respect for them.”
Corgatelli believes that the negative publicity she has received will not affect her job status.
“How can you fault somebody because of their hobbies?” Corgatelli said on the show. “How can an employer chastise you for something you do on your personal time that’s legally done?”
In a post which appears to have been deleted after it went viral, thanks to several media outlets, including Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper , Corgatelli superimposed over the giraffe photo a “meme” of actor Leonardo DiCaprio holding a cocktail and grinning.
The “meme” was captioned, “To all the haters, stay tuned! You’re gonna hav so much more to be p****d about!”
She also posts what she apparently believes to be a Biblical justification for her hunting activities.
“Genesis 9:3 says, ‘Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything.’ Genesis 27:3 says, ‘Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me.’ ”
Whether Corgatelli and Neilson ate the giraffe as “food” is not made clear on her Facebook page, which also contains numerous selfies.
The Facebook comments she received were mostly just as angry as those received by Palmer, but at least one commenter appeared to see through Corgatelli’s act.
“You’ve posted dozens of pictures just in the past 48 hours, why?” asked the commenter on the Sabrina Corgatelli Facebook page. “You’re loving this attention and the in-your-face attitude that you project, huh? You’ve probably never had this much action on your page. Even your fake boobs and trashy make-up haven’t brought you the attention you crave.”
[Images: Sabrina Corgatelli / Facebook]