Texas Cheerleader Draws Outrage for Photos of Her Posing with Dead Exotic Game

19-year-old Texas Tech student Kendall Jones has been the subject of substantial outrage this week as animal rights activists petition Facebook to remove photographs of the cheerleader posing with exotic big game she killed in Africa.

Jones has reportedly been hunting big game since she was 13 years old, and her fan page is replete with images of her standing with the bodies of dead hippos, elephants, lions and other beasts she has killed as part of game preservation and hunting in the wild. She happily describes her quest to take down some of the wild’s most dangerous game. Some examples below:

The young hunter will reportedly host a show produced by Pigman TV, set to air in 2015 on the Sportsman Channel, and she explained on her page that her killing is for a purpose: “Controlling the male lion population is important within large fenced areas like these,” she wrote. ‘Funds from a hunt like this goes partially to the government for permits but also to the farm owner as an incentive to keep and raise lions on their property.”

But that hasn’t stopped activists from attempting to have her Facebook photos deleted and her hunting rights revoked. One petition seeks 200,000 signees to force Jones to remove her photos; another petition, started by a South African man, requests 50,000 signatures to help ban Jones from hunting in Africa.

Jones has taken the criticism in stride, responding on Facebook with this comment: “All the anti-hunters posting negative comments and sharing my photos on their page has helped me get over 600 likes in the past 48 hours.” She also posted a note thanking her supporters and those with knowledge of wildlife conservative who’ve provided positive feedback for her work.

[h/t BuzzFeed]
[All images via Kendall Jones/Facebook]

— —
>> Follow Andrew Kirell (@AndrewKirell) on Twitter

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!