Huntress slammed over ‘immoral’ kill posted online

A Russian huntress has sparked fury over graphic pictures of the slaughter of a Red Book ibex in the Altai Mountains.

Tatyana Baulina, 32, showed her kill on her hunting social media, but she is now facing a check by the Russian Investigative Committee.

And she was hit by strong criticism even in Russia where hunting is popular and without the controversy it engenders in some Western countries.

The head of Altai Republic, in Siberia, Oleg Khorokhordin said that even if Baulina had a licence for the trophy, her pictures posted on social media were “immoral”.

One picture showed the killed ibex’s horns strapped to her backpack as she posed on a mountainside.

Others showed her posing with the slaughtered wild animal.

“I have always been indifferent to hunting and oppose the extraction of animals, which many residents of the republic consider sacred, like our whole nature,” he said.

“The moral aspect is also important.

“Even if all this is legal, and there really are licenses, why publish such defiant photos and videos of the shooting on social networks?”

While there are quotas to hunt Red Book ibex, the number of these licences have been drastically reduced, Khorokhordin said.

She told hunting enthusiasts that she had used a March optical rifle scope with a “40 times zoom”.

The ibex - a type of wild goat - had come down from the high Altai mountains ‘unprecedentedly late’, she said.

• Vaquita not extinct: Hope remains for world's most endangered animal

• Threatened species revealed as victims of devastating oil disaster

• Whale pod slaughtered just days after horrific dolphin massacre

She revealed distressing footage showing how she aimed at the animal that she shot from a vantage point above the herd.

“We came to 230 metres, at a 30 degree angle - a distance that I couldn’t even dream about,” she posted.

It is believed she used a Heym SR 30 straight-pull rifle for the kill.

The committee said that a check had been ordered into “reports on illegal hunting for ibex”.

Pictures showed “a young woman with the carcass of an ibex".

“During the procedural check, investigators will have to find out all the circumstances of the incident.”

After this, a decision will be made on any legal action.

Baulina was born in Tula and graduated from Moscow’s prestigious National Research University’s Higher School of Economics.

She boasted of being on hunting trips for wild boar and elk, first as an observer then a participant, to many areas of Russia.

- East2West News/ Australscope

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.