Smiling lady 'lion killer' sparks world-wide social media fury

She’s been branded ‘heartless’, ‘shameless’, callous and cruel.

Possibly one of the most hated women in the world at the moment.

She’s the lion killing TV presenter who sparked a social media storm across the weekend.

Melissa Bachman who presents an American hunting show “Winchester Deadly Passion” posted a picture on her Twitter and Facebook accounts, which showed her holding a gun and smiling next to the apparently dead male lion.

The image was posted along with the message: “An incredible day hunting in South Africa! Stalked inside 60-yards on this beautiful male lion… What a hunt!”

The picture was added to Facebook as part of an album called “Africa 2013”, which included images of her next to a dead zebra, a variety of shot antelope, and the dead lion, following a trip to the Maroi Conservancy hunting park in South Africa.

Her US TV show documents her hunting exploits using rifles or bow and arrows.

The self confessed ‘Hardcore Huntress’ says about herself “I have the best job in the world, great friends & family, and I’m usually pretty lucky. What more could a girl ask for??”

Melissa Bachman claims to have been hunting since she was a child, but it seems she’s no stranger to controversy. Earlier this year she was dropped as a contestant on the National Geographic TV show Ultimate Survivor Alaska after a petition on Change.org called for her dismissal. The petition gained over 13,000 signatures in just 24 hours.

Her web site features gruesome images of her and her ‘kill’ with the tag line “when everything comes together and its captures on film the sense of accomplishment is incredible”.

Her lion tweet provoked a massive backlash.

Including an online petition urging the South African government to bar her from ever entering the country, so far it has garnered over 50,000 signatures.

It says:

“Melissa Bachman has made a career out of hunting wildlife for pure sport. She is an absolute contradiction to the culture of conservation, this country prides itself on. Her latest Facebook post features her with a lion she has just executed and murdered in our country.”

Supporters of hunting in South Africa argue that it raises funds from wealthy tourists which are then ploughed back into conservation efforts.

Whilst the African lion is considered a vulnerable species, numbers are rapidly declining due to loss of habitat and conflict with humans.

However, hunting lions is legal in several countries, including South Africa.

Lourens Mostert, game farm manager at the Maroi conservancy, confirmed that a lion was killed and said this hunt was legal. “If it isn’t right to hunt these lions, why does out government legally give us permission?” he told the Times newspaper. “This is not the only lion that has been hunted in South Africa this year.”

The outrage over this killing is only intensifying. Melissa Bachman has gone to ground. Shutting down her social media accounts. The world wide condemnation of the ‘killing’  though doesn’t seem like it will go quite so quiet.

You can access the petition here.