'You are a vile, evil excuse of a human being': Female trophy hunter is harassed online after defending her hobby

Trophy hunter Olivia Opre made an appearance on ITV’s This Morning on Wednesday to talk about her “adventures” as a big game hunter. Within hours, people all over social media were calling her “vile, evil,” and even sending her death threats.

The former Miss Nebraska spoke to the U.K.-based show’s hosts, Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, via satellite from her home in Montana, where viewers could see an array of animals that she had killed and had stuffed in the background.

“Yes, the lion and the lioness I did shoot,” she said of the most prominent animals on display, before explaining that she’s hunted about 100 species throughout six continents. “It’s bringing me to a place where I get to be a part of these wild places and amongst the people of these areas and it’s the adventure.”

The mother of four went on to say that she hunts animals for the fun of “the pursuit,” and that it pushes her out of her comfort zone. Although she sees no problem with it, she thinks some hunters can get themselves into trouble with the photos they take of the game they kill. Namely, a Safari Club International (SCI) member, Britany L., who made headlines earlier in the week for a viral photo of herself holding a dead leopard.

The SCI had posted the photo of Britany L. on a section of their website where they show off their members’ “hunter pride.” But when KnotOnMyPlanet co-founder David Bonnouvrier got hold of the photo and posted it to his social media, thousands of people chose to correct the hunter by saying that she shouldn’t be proud of killing such an animal.

“What a f***ing idiot!” one person wrote of killing an animal that is of an endangered species. Another said, “they deserve the same fate as those animals.”

In defense of hunters who face criticism and death threats, Opre stated that hunting is legal. She even went so far as to say that hunters are contributing to wildlife conservation efforts.

“There’s a lot of places where … no photographer’s going to go to Liberia to take a photograph, but hunters have that desire to see new areas,” she said, “and as a result of these hunters coming in, they’re creating jobs, they’re helping to drill wells and take animal censuses, and what’s most important is the anti-poaching effort.”

Both Schofield and Willoughby began arguing with Opre while on air, and people online were eager to join in.

Neither Opre nor the SCI responded to Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment, although it seems that no further clarification can settle these angry viewers.

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