Melissa Bachman Twitter Fury: Death Wishes, Vicious Insults Follow African Lion Hunt (graphic photo) [View all]

[Bill Lermer]

http://www.ibtimes.com/melissa-bachman-twitter-fury-death-wishes-vicious-insults-follow-south-african-lion-hunt-1475462



Angry Twitter users are firing back at Melissa Bachman after a photo of the huntress posing with a recently killed lion went viral. Bachman, who stars in the hunting show “Deadly Passion” on the specialty network Pursuit Channel, found herself the target of vicious death wishes and obscenity-laced insults on Monday as critics on Twitter, YouTube and other social networks blasted the Minnesotan for her boastful hunting escapades.

The photo in question, posted to her Facebook page on Nov. 1, shows a smiling Bachman posing with a rifle as a lion carcass lies in the dirt beneath her. “An incredible day hunting in South Africa,” the caption reads. “Stalked inside 60-yards on this beautiful male lion...what a hunt!”

The photo, accompanied by similar photos of Bachman posing with slain deer, bears and other wildlife, went relatively unnoticed until last week, when a petition on Change.org launched by Cape Town resident Elan Burman helped bring attention to it. Signed by more than 156,000 people, the petition is calling on the South African government to deny Bachman future entry into the country. The hunt reportedly took place on a legal safari near the town of Musina.

Nevertheless, upon seeing the photo, many incensed Twitter users lost all sense of civility. (Fair warning: the following tweets contain explicit content.)

(rather vicious tweets then follow; go to the link if you would like to see them)