Kerre McIvor: Shooter of farmed wildlife fails sporting test

US woman Melissa Bachman gets her kicks killing tamed wild animals.

When Melissa Bachman posted a photo of herself posing with an assault rifle and a very dead lion, she must have known she was being deliberately provocative, especially given the reaction she'd received to other, similar photos. Initially, it went out on Twitter and she wrote: "Stalked this male lion. What a hunt!"

The response was immediate but Ricky Gervais summed it up best. He retweeted her photo to his many followers and added: "Spot the typo."

Sure, Bachman was doing nothing illegal. Big-game hunting is big business in many parts of Africa.

There are all sorts of justifications for it. Animals need to be culled; why not get rich tourists to pay for the kill rather than have rangers do it.

Some places farm animals to be killed - just as we do with beef and sheep - and the money people pay to kill these animals goes towards anti-poaching initiatives. Really? I'd like to see the proof of that.

But there's a big difference between killing something for its meat and making good use of its byproduct, as we do with beef and sheep, and killing something just to say you've killed it. The Masai must kill a lion before they can be considered men - but they take it on with a spear. And their lions live in the wild. These are not farmed lions killed with high-powered assault rifles.

Where will it end with Melissa Bachman? She has killed just about every living creature on this planet.

How will she get her next thrill? Perhaps she should head off to China and pay to kill the next person up for execution.

The big bucks she would have to pay could go towards charity and, after all, the scumbag was going to be killed anyway. Where's the harm?