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12,000 Sign Petition To Ban Trophy Hunter Who Posed With Giraffe Heart From Facebook

Over 12,000 people have signed a petition to ban a trophy hunter, who posted a photograph holding a giraffe’s heart on Facebook, from the platform.

Merelize Van Der Merwe, from South Africa, reportedly shot and killed the creature herself, before removing the organ and posing with it.

She captioned the shot: “I’m absolutely over the moon with my BIG valentines present!!!”

Over 12,000 people have signed a petition for her to be removed from the social media platform. Credit: Facebook/Merelize Van Der Merwe

People are now petitioning to have her account deleted.

The petition reads: “On her ‘public figure’ page, this monster shares images of the endangered species she massacres. Amongst them are giraffes, elephants, and leopards.

“She also shares imagery and videos of herself covered in blood, of dead children and her and her fellow barbarians chopping up their victims.

“Why does Facebook, a supposed site with family values, allow this?

“Instead, they should do the decent thing: Ban her.”

Despite receiving a huge backlash, she insisted that, through killing the animal, she ‘created work for 11 people that day’ while providing ‘meat for the locals’.

Speaking to the Mirror, the 32-year-old said she has ‘no respect’ for animal rights activist groups, referring to them as ‘the mafia’.

She told the publication: “If hunting is banned, animals will become worthless and will disappear.

“Hunting has helped bring back a lot of species from the brink of extinction. The only people protecting these animals are trophy hunters.”

Featured Image Credit: Facebook/Merelize Van Der Merwe

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Written by Aimee Walker

Aimee is a senior content editor at IGV who specialises in finding the best original stories, trending topics and entertainment news. She graduated from Birmingham City University with a degree in Media and Communications.