Originally posted by Outdoor Writer:
Some of the effects from such postings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lFqrkj2NYghttps://www.change.org/p/aaron...-lions-we-say-enoughhttps://archives.sfweekly.com/...s-dead-animal-photoshttps://www.salon.com/2015/08/..._you_very_seriously/https://www.boiseweekly.com/bo.../Content?oid=3552965https://www.forbes.com/sites/d...d-in-king-of-beasts/https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/529735974895292808https://www.capitalgrio.com/si...affe-is-poacher.html*******************
The boyfriend of a huntress who sparked outrage by posing for photos next to a dead giraffe after Cecil the lion was killed is a convicted poacher, MailOnline can reveal.
Sabrina Corgatelli taunted the world by posting pictures of her ‘trophy kills’ in the wake of the global revulsion around Cecil’s death at the hands of U.S. dentist Walter Palmer.
Telling her haters to ‘bring it on’, Sabrina posted the photo of her draped around a giraffe corpse with the caption: 'I couldn't be any happier!! My emotion after getting him was a feeling I will never forget!!!'
Hunter: In response to the outrage sparked by photos like this one of Aaron Neilson, 43, with the corpse of a lion, he told MailOnline 'Hunting is still the best conservation tool we have throughout much of wild Africa'
Huntress: Sabrina Corgatelli posted this picture of herself with a dead giraffe. It sparked a stream of obscene and disparaging comments accusing her of animal abuse and heartlessness
Proof: Documents from Yuma County court, Colorado, show Neilson pleaded guilty to unlawful hunting of whitetail buck in 1995. He also admitted obtaining a signature by deception and second-degree forgery
Her boyfriend Aaron Neilson is a hunter who has posed with 15 lion kill 'trophies' and helped his clients hunt 'dozens’ more, defends his right to hunt legally.
But MailOnline can reveal that Neilson, 43, a father of one from Colorado, has been convicted of poaching.
Prosecution court papers obtained from Yuma County court in Colorado show he pleaded guilty to unlawful hunting of whitetail buck on private property in 1995.
Then, 23, Neilson also admitted obtaining a signature by deception and second-degree forgery.
His sentence was deferred for 24 months and the court ordered him to pay $1,500 dollars to the Colorado Division of Wildlife’s ‘Operation Game Thief’ – which offers rewards to people who report poachers.
He was also ordered not to hunt or fish in Colorado for two years.
There is no suggestion he has committed similar offences since then.
Neilson, who has been hunting for more than 20 years, claims to have 'developed a reputation in the safari hunting industry as one of the leading experts on the African Lion'.
Wildlife: As this picture shows, not all of the animals Neilson have hunted were in Africa. This image reveals how he persues his controversial passtime in the Arctic
Goading: One Facebook user told Sabrina Corgatelli: 'You could take me hunting anytime'. She is complemented not only on her looks but her hunting skills on social media
'Few agents can match his experience or expertise when it comes to the King of Beasts, or African hunting in general,' a statement on his website, reads.
His pictures prompted fury and led to a 100,000 signature petition calling for him to be banned from visiting some African countries and for his images to be removed from Facebook.
In response Neilson wrote: 'A little something special for my many thousands of Anti-Hunting Fans!
'They currently have three active petitions against me (just google it) apparently hoping numerous African countries will no longer allow me entry?
'Ya right, the guy who shows up with the money - to partake in a legal, ethical and widely supported activity within their country. I'm sure that's gonna happen?'
He posted the message alongside more photos of dead lions, which he told people to 'enjoy'.
In an interview in August, Neilson, who also hosts TV series ‘Trijicon's World of Sports Afield’, told American news channel ABC: 'Hunting absolutely is the only tool right now that’s paying for the vast majority of the wildlife conservation throughout the continent of Africa...
'We might take a small surplus of [lions], but without what we’re doing there won’t be any of them at all.'
This is something disputed by some wildlife organisations, and the idea that trophy hunting benefits animals has been branded a 'fantasy'.
Lion killer: Corgatelli and Neilson (third from right) are pictured posing over a slain lion. Doctor Pieter Kat, director of the charity Lion Aid, said: 'Why anyone would want to shoot a single lion to deliver to a taxidermist is puzzling, but to want to go back time and again to eventually have 15 stuffed lions in their trophy room is incomprehensible'
Bloody: Doctor Pieter Kat, director of Lion Aid, questioned how the actions in these pictures could have anything to do with lion conservation
Doctor Pieter Kat, director of the charity Lion Aid, told MailOnline: 'Aaron Nielsen recently returned from Africa with his 14th and 15th lion trophy safely deposited at the taxidermist.
'Why anyone would want to shoot a single lion to deliver to a taxidermist is puzzling, but to want to go back time and again to eventually have 15 stuffed lions in their trophy room is incomprehensible.'
When confronted by MailOnline on his poaching conviction, Neilson said: 'As you can see it was a big mistake made by a young man in a new area of operation for the first time.
'Like most, I paid my debt to society and learned my lesson in life. To be accurate and factual, I poached nothing - I was not hunting, nor did I even have a hunting licence.'
He said the hunt he joined his girlfriend Miss Corgatelli on in July was inside a private reserve and that the tribal chief had granted permission for them to hunt.
Convicted: Doctor Pieter Kat, director of Lion Aid, believes Neilson has 'no respect whatsoever for wildlife'
Neilson said he has been on anti-poaching patrol in Zambia, adding: 'I've been shot at, I've held poachers at gunpoint, and I've seen the most repulsive example of indiscriminate mass poaching one could imagine.'
He claims 'hunters put their money where their mouths are' and contribute financially to lion conservation in Africa.
'Hunting is still the best conservation tool we have throughout much of wild Africa. In the case of conservation minded hunting - the theory of "sacrificing a few to save the many" is legitimate and working as it has for decades.
'Emotion and irrationality will not save Africa's wildlife. Only money, hard work, and persistence will do so.
'We as hunters want what anti-hunters want too, Africa's wildlife to live on and prosper forever.'
Addressing his hunting of 15 lions, he said: 'No one cares more for, loves or works harder to protect the king of beasts than do I and my hunting brothers and sisters.
Girlfriend: Corgatelli posted this picture of a wildebeest on her Facebook. One of her fans commented: 'That is a very big one young lady that is something to be proud of'
'To me, the lion is the most incredible creature on the planet and nothing I want to see more than his longevity.'
However he added: 'Wild lions don’t have names, they are not friends with Pumba and don’t dance around the campfire with others. They are fighters, they are killers, they have no feelings for the game they hunt and they take no prisoners.
They practice infanticide, and survival is their only goal. Stop humanising a wild animal, humans they are not.'
