FacebookAmid the frenzy surrounding Cecil the Lion's untimely death last week, Idaho huntress Sabrina Corgatelli is speaking publically about her love for hunting.
During an interview with Today's Carson Daly via Facetime from South Africa, Corgatelli took arguably the more controversial side of the debate by explaining, "Everything I've done here is legal, so how can you fault somebody because of their hobbies?"
Corgatelli also defended herself after haters on social media called her a "cold-hearted" killer after she posted photos of her hunting (and killing) giraffes and wildebeests.
In fact, in a Facebook post on July 31, Corgatelli posed next to a deceased giraffe and described the hunt as "amazing" and a "feeling I will never forget."
"To me, it's not just killing an animal, it's the hunt. There's a lot of personal things in my life that have happened recently that have added to that," she said on the morning news show.
"I won't get into that or disclose those feelings. Everybody just thinks we're cold-hearted killers, and it's not that. There is a connection with the animal, and just because we hunt them doesn't mean we don't have a respect for them. Giraffes are very dangerous animals. They could hurt you seriously very quickly."
Corgatelli speaking out comes on the heels of American dentist Dr. Walter J. Palmer apologizing for his role in Cecil's death.
"I deeply regret that my pursuit of an activity I love and practice responsibly and legally resulted in the taking of this lion," he wrote in his letter to patients. "That was never my intention."
Despite the apology, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk had some harsh words for Palmer, saying in a statement to E! News: "Hunting is a coward's pastime. If, as has been reported, this dentist and his guides lured Cecil out of the park with food so as to shoot him on private property, because shooting him in the park would have been illegal, he needs to be extradited, charged, and, preferably, hanged."
(E! and NBC are both part of the same NBCUniversal family.)