Goat Hunter and Host of ‘Larysa Unleashed’ Blasted for Posing With Prey in Scotland

A hunter points a gun into the forest. Sebastian Pociecha/Unsplash

Hunting show host Larysa Switlyk faced a torrent of criticism on social media after posting a picture of herself with a dead goat during a hunting trip in Scotland.

Switlyk, whose show “Larysa Unleashed” follows her as she stalks prey across the world, posted photos on social media of herself and a friend during a recent hunt.

“Beautiful wild goat here on the Island of Islay in Scotland,” she tweeted on Monday, Oct. 22, with a picture of the dead goat. “Such a fun hunt!! They live on the edge of the cliffs of the island and know how to hide well. We hunted hard for a big for 2 days and finally got on this group.”

Switlyk also posted a photo of her friend with another goat and congratulated him on a successful kill.

“Congrats on Jason on his gold medal goat,” she wrote.

Many people who are opposed to hunting have complained about her other posts as well. On Sept. 11 she posed grinning and holding up a freshly killed antelope in a Facebook post, with the caption “❤ Love how the horns on my antelope are in a shape of a heart ❤”

But Switlyk’s hunt in Scotland received extraordinary attention, even sparking backlash from a member of government.

First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon tweeted her displeasure.

“Totally understandable why the images from Islay of dead animals being held up as trophies is so upsetting and offensive to people. [The] Scottish Government will review the current situation and consider whether changes to the law are required,” she wrote.

The BBC reported that the hunt was legal and the wild goats were “classed as an invasive, non-native species” in the United Kingdom. Culls have been carried out to reduce herd numbers.

Judy Murray, a Scottish tennis coach, and mother of tennis star Andy Murray, called the photos “disgraceful.”

“A unique hunt? Disgraceful. It’s a goat. And it’s in Scotland. On a beautiful island. Stop this please,” Murray tweeted while tagging the Scottish government’s Twitter handle.

Human rights advocate Rob McDowall tweeted, “This is truly SICKENING! Someone comes to beautiful Islay in Scotland and decides to kill a wild goat and pose with it. This breaks my heart. We are better than this. This needs to stop!”

Switlyk calls herself “competitive, engaging and adventurous,” and says on her website she quit her job as an accountant after “a gut feeling told her something was missing in her life.” She now hosts her own “outdoor lifestyle” show.

“Had a few challenges thrown at me,” Switlyk narrates in the trailer of one of her episodes, in which she faced luggage problems on a hunting trip to Texas to bag a deer.

“The real question is, can I work my way through it and get a white-tail down?” the huntress-in-fatigues asks in the video, as she peers down the scope of a high-powered rifle.

“Now I’m ready to take my passion for hunting to the next level and share my adventures with you,” she says. Meanwhile, the video shows footage of Switlyk taking down all kinds of quarry in exotic locations.

In the wake of the Scottish hunt controversy, Switlyk said in an Instagram post on Wednesday she would be heading on a new hunting adventure, and she blasted critics for “sending me death threats.”

“My ride has arrived—I’m headed out on a bush plane for my hunting adventure and will be out of service for two weeks. Nothing better than disconnecting from this social media driven world and connecting back with nature. Hopefully that will give enough time for all the ignorant people out there sending me death threats to get educated on hunting and conservation. FYI, I was in Scotland over a month ago,” she wrote.