Rugby College: All Blacks rugby players in the firing line over big game hunting pictures

The Canterbury Crusaders players were game hunting in South Africa

Images of them alongside dead animals featured on Facebook Thursday

Social media users were outraged with comments condemning them

The Landmark Organisation group called the images ‘disgusting’

The players activities were deemed legal but unfavorably looked upon

By

Daniel Mills

Published:

03:58, 8 August 2014

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Updated:

06:07, 8 August 2014

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Five New Zealand rugby union players are at the centre of a social media storm after images of them posing with dead animals in South Africa emerged on Facebook.

Three All-Black stars feature among a gang of five Canterbury Crusaders players, outed by an African environmentalist group which posted four pictures of the players posing alongside a dead zebra, blesbok, a gemsbok and an eland.

They feature Crusaders teammates Tyler Bleyendaal and Ben Funnell as well as All Blacks Tom Taylor, and Sam and George Whitelock. All five are pictured looking particularly proud of their animal conquests, smiling before the cameras and holding the horns of their prey.

Sam Whitelock, centre front, poses with brother George (far left) Tyler Bleyendaal (second from left), Tom Taylor (third from right) and Ben Funnell (far right) during a wild game expedition in South Africa

Though not illegal, their activities have sparked widespread condemnation from the environmentalist group which posted them, and hundreds of other social media users.

First published on the Landmark Organisation’s Facebook page on Thursday, the images were believed to be taken during a mid-season hunting trip in April when the team was in South Africa, playing in Johannesburg and Bloemfontein.

Crusaders chief executive Hamish Riach said the players had been ‘performing a perfectly legal activity in their own time.’

The images where uploaded by the Landmark Organisation, a group dedicated to animal conservation efforts in Africa, alongside a caption reading: ‘When New Zealand rugby players have free time in South Africa, see what they get up to. Here are the Crusaders rugby players killing wildlife for laughs on a recent visit to South Africa,’ the post said.

Foundation director Dr Bool Smuts conceded that it was a bad look for a group of high-profile people to pose alongside their ‘trophy’ kills and he said his organisation condemned such activities.

‘When these people [hunters] come out they want to hunt the thing with the biggest horns, the most dominant males usually because they are the good trophies, so the natural selection is not natural at all.’

The players have come under intense criticism for the images despite the fact they were hunting legally

The photos were reportedly taken in March and April when the team was playing in Johannesburg and Bloemfontein

Tom Taylor pictured alongside an eland, one of the non-endangered animals killed during a Crusaders hunting expedition in South Africa

All black lock Sam Whitelock went on the front foot to defend himself saying the dead animals were used as meat, with some of the players eating their own kill.

He also defended brother and New Zealand teammate George, five eighths Tom Taylor and Tyler Bleyendaal and Hooker Ben Funnell.

‘[We] made sure we didn’t shoot something for fun because that’s not what we are about – it’s something I feel very strongly about,’ he told New Zealand’s 3News.

Asked if the South African photos were a bad look, he said it was the players’ personal choice to partake in the activity, legally.

The Crusader said he didn’t eat the zebra meat, but others on the trip had.

The club’s chief executive Hamish Riach said the players took part in the ‘perfectly legal activity’ withÂ licensed guides – also pictured in the images.

A New Zealand Rugby spokesman said the issue was a matter for the Crusaders and the national team would not provide comment in relation to the images.

The public outcry comes following similar condemnation which was levelled at teenage Texan, Kendall Jones.

The 19-year-old was photographed in front of dead hippos, elephants, lions and other beasts

She featured on Facebook with her hunting skills on full show, but drew the ire of game animal lovers who criticised the images.

They were appalled by the teen’s beaming social media and condemned Kendall’s sick and depraved actions.