Ricky Gervais Posts Savage Tweet Condemning Hunters Who Killed Wild Animals In Scotland

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Ricky Gervais is well-known for his passion for animals and severe condemnation of anyone who treats them anything less than kindly.

So when it comes to hunters, who go out to purposefully kill wild animals and pose with their dead bodies, Ricky isn’t shy about making his feelings clear.

Larysa Switlyk, an American TV presenter who hosts her own show Larysa Unleashed in the US, posted an image of herself with a fellow hunter posing with the body of a wild goat they’d apparently just killed.

The pair were on the island of Islay, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, for a hunting trip.

Posting on social media, Larysa wrote:

Congrats on Jason on his gold medal goat here in Scotland on Islay.

A unique hunt

Ricky Gervais being Ricky Gervais had a few words to say on the matter.

Replying on Twitter, he wrote:

A couple of c*nts, dressed up like c*nts, shooting a beautiful animal, then posing with the murdered carcass like right c*nts and posting it on social media to show the world what c*nts they are.

While Judy Murray also responded:

“A unique hunt?”
Disgraceful. It’s a goat. And it’s in Scotland. On a beautiful island. Stop this pls @scotgov. [sic]

Larysa describes herself as a ‘world renowned hunter’ on her website, and posted a few other photos from the trip.

After the photos surfaced online, the MSP for Argyll and Bute, Michael Russell, said he’d be raising the issue with Scotland’s environment secretary, Roseanna Cunningham.

He wrote:

As the local member of @ScotParl I am raising this as a matter of urgency with @strathearnrose – if this is actually happening on Islay, and laid on by some sort of tour company I would want to see it stopped immediately [sic]

And, in a later tweet, he added:

As the local MSP i have made it very clear that this is simply wrong – it will damage rather than enhance Scotland’s (& Islay’s) tourism image. [sic]

The wild goats that were shot have no natural predator, and are classed as an invasive, non-native species in the UK.

Hunting them is not currently illegal, and controversial culls have been carried out to reduce numbers, as well as efforts to manage the population using contraceptive darts, BBC reports.

Speaking on BBC Scotland, Russell added:

The pictures are horrific. Obviously deer culling and deer stalking is established on the island and it’s a necessary thing to do considering the lack of control of deer numbers.

But to see people in camouflage with highly powered sniper rifles rejoicing at the killing of a goat, let alone a ram, is simply unacceptable.

The vast majority of people would just not regard this as something that should be happening in their country.

There has been something of an outcry already about it and as a local MSP I have now raised it with the environment minister because I think it’s really undesirable and unpleasant.

GoogleMaps

It’s thought there are currently around 3,000 wild goats in herd across the UK.

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Charlie Cocksedge

Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.