US woman kills elephant for a bet in Zimbabwe

US woman kills elephant for a bet in Zimbabwe

Grinning Teressa Groenewald-Hagerman standing next to her kill

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Posted to the web: 11/05/2009 16:38:00
FURIOUS Zimbabweans are using the internet to “vent disgust” after a sickening picture of an American hunter was published, showing her standing over an elephant she had just killed with a bow and arrow for a BET.

Teressa Groenewald-Hagerman, 39, said she found the animal in a group of 37 at some unidentified game reserve near Bulawayo, knelt and fired the arrow from 12 yards.

The elephant staggered 500 yards before collapsing – making her the first woman known to have killed an elephant with a bow and arrow.

Beaming with pride, the khaki-clad huntress returned in the morning to check the elephant was dead -- standing over her quarry and posing for pictures which she posted on the internet.

Groenewald-Hagerman used a powerful £450 PSE X Force bow – and trained for more than a year to build up the strength and skill to use it.

But the boast has appalled conservationists and Zimbabweans who have created a group on the social networking site Facebook to express their revulsion and demand more controls over hunting.

“Personally, I'd love to give her a taste of her own medicine. I'd love to shoot her in the back with a bow and arrow from 12 yards when she is around her loved ones and then let her stagger for 500 hundreds yards until she collapses and then leave her there overnight,” said Julie Greer on the group called Teressa Groenewald-Hagerman - The Texan Tosspot which has 210 members.

“Stalk her, skin her, salt her …,” said another angry poster.

“Which one is the animal?” asked another, adding: “I do apologise for calling this disgusting two legged thing an animal because it’s an insult to real animals.”

Conservationists said she had committed an act “not far short of murder” after her boast was picked up by British newspapers.

They said elephants lived as long as humans in tight-knit family groups and mourned their dead.

Will Travers, of the UK Born Free Foundation, said: “What kind of person would kill an elephant with a bow to win a bet? She needs therapy.

“I am no expert on bow hunting but I would have thought it extremely difficult to kill an elephant cleanly and without suffering with a bow and arrow.

“It is sickening but unfortunately there are people who are willing to do this.
“Elephants live in tight family units and we know through research that they show signs of being able to grieve. There are people who would say that this is not far short of murder.”

Groenewald-Hagerman, a blonde Texan “happily” divorced from a South African, told of her exploits on websites including Hunts of a Lifetime.

She wrote: “I have been a professional hunter for 10 years and in the hunting industry for 12 years. A man by the name of Larry bet me I couldn’t shoot a buffalo or elephant with a bow. He indicated only one or two women had completed the buffalo with a bow and no woman had ever taken an elephant with a bow. Of course, I couldn’t turn down the challenge.”

The bow she chose has a draw of up to 90lb – more than twice the weight pulled by female British Olympic archers.

She wrote: “I must say this was the hardest task I have ever taken on in my life. It took 14 months of training before I was physically capable of pulling the heavy bows.”

She said she spent eight days on the hunt in Zimbabwe before getting close enough to take a shot.

“It was shot near dark. We went back the next day and found him. I was in the middle of 37 elephants when I took my shot. This was my first bow kill and first woman to take an ele with a bow.”

She added: “It was at 12 yards kneeling.”

One admiring blogger called BO-N-ARO wrote: “12 yards!!! I bet they had a great blood trail because of the low entry!!

“That has to be one of the best examples of setting a goal and working hard to achieve it!”

Zimbabwe permits hunting at licensed game reserves – a major source of foreign currency for the cash-strapped government. Hunting is popular with foreign trophy hunters but due to international publicity surrounding elephants, the country has tried to improve its image by banning the hunting of females.
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