Self-styled 'hardcore huntress' sparks outrage after posting picture of herself with male lion she shot dead on Twitter as thousands sign petition to ban her from South Africa

• Melissa Bachman presents a series called Winchester Deadly Passion about hunting
• The 'hardcore huntress' posted a picture of herself with a lion she killed on Twitter 
• The reaction was immediate condemnation
• A petition to prevent her from returning to South Africa, where she shot the lion, has been signed more than 13,000 times

TV presenter Melissa Bachman raised ire when she posted a photo of a mature male lion she allegedly shot and killed on Twitter and Facebook.
Within hours of the post, an online petition by Cape Town resident Elan Burman asking the South African government to ban Bachman from ever returning to the country was launched. 
The picture depicts Bachman crouching over the carcass of a male lion with its eyes closed, paws either side of its head, as she holds her gun and smiles toothily. 

Scroll down for video

Uproar: Bachman was forced to make her social media accounts private after sparking a furor with this photo of herself with a lion she shot dead

'An incredible say hunting in South Africa!' she tweeted. 'Stalked inside 60 yards on the this beautiful male lion... what a hunt!'

The post provoked a furious response from many Twitter users, who called her 'disgusting' and 'vile.'

At the time of writing, Burman's petition had 18,891 signatures. 

'She is an absolute contradiction to the culture of conservation this country prides itself on,' wrote Burman.

VIDEO  Self-styled hunter kills a gator and shows off the kill (video censored)

YouTube: Melissa Bachman

Not welcome: Many in South Africa are seeking to prevent Bachman from returning to their shores, and more than 13,000 have signed this petition

Earning stripes: Bachman poses with her gun over the corpse of a zebra

Outrage: Bachman's hunting exploits have earned her some very vocal critics who were quick to denounce her for killing a lion today

Deadly passion: The 'Trophy Room' section of Bachman's website has 65 photographs of her posing with different dead animals

Signatory Richard Robinson wrote, 'You didn't kill a lion, you stood behind a machine and pulled a little trigger, you pathetic, sad excuse of a human.'

The African lion is considered a vulnerable species. Numbers are rapidly declining due to loss of habitat and conflict with humans. 

However, hunting lions is legal in several countries, including South Africa where Bachman bagged her big male. 

Spot the typo: Ricky Gervais joined the many Twitter users who condemned Bachman

Hardcore huntress: Bachman says she has been hunting since she was a small child

Thrill kill: Detractors say Bachman is a 'heartless trophy hunter'

Big game: Bachman works as writer, producer and star of the series Winchester Deadly Passion

Bachman's social media pages and website reveal an array of huge beasts that have died after coming in contact with her. The 'Trophy Room' section of her website features a grinning Bachman with dead deer, antelope, alligators, turkeys and hogs.

This latest furor is not the first time Bachman has run afoul of anti-hunting groups.

Last year, she was slated to appear on the National Geographic Channel's Ultimate Survivor Alaska but was dropped after a Change.org petition that called Bachman a 'contracted trophy killer' was signed more than 13,000 times in less than 24 hours.

Twitter tirade: Bachman has disabled her Twitter account since the posting went viral

On the fly: No game is too small for Bachman to take aim at

Minnesota-based Bachman, whose blog includes posts such as 'Why every girl should try bowhunting' and 'Stupid hunting regulations I just can't stand,' is the host of a television series called Winchester Deadly Passion.

In each episode, she travels to a locale and hunts its native animals with a variety of weapons including her beloved bow and arrow.

Lourens Mostert, a manager at the Maroi conservancy where Bachman shot the lion said the hunt was legal. 

'If it isn't right to hunt these lions, why does out government legally give us permission?' he told the Daily Telegraph. 

'This is not the only lion that has been hunted in South Africa this year.'

The 15 Most Sexist Jobs In America

Among the hundreds of full-time jobs tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, women earn more than men in only two. On average, women working full time make only about 81% of the median earnings of their male counterparts.

To find out which jobs feature the biggest gender wage gaps, we compared the median weekly earnings of men and women working full time in 2012 in the same job titles, as reported by the BLS. We then ranked the jobs with the largest pay discrepancies in percentage terms.

As a broad category, sales appears to be one of the worst areas for women. In sales and related occupations, women make on average 62.2% of what men earn in those same positions, according to data from the BLS. Legal, management, production, and business and financial operations occupations also tend to pay women far less than men.

While the report doesn't speculate on why men significantly out-earn women in particular fields, firm size, geographic location, and industry may all factor into the discrepancies. Women may be more likely to pursue career paths at smaller companies and nonprofits, and may also be less successful at salary negotiations. Discrimination, either by employers or clients, may also contribute, particularly in legal, business, and management careers without clearly defined salary ranges.

To be sure, the wage gap as a whole has improved significantly over the past three decades. In 1979, women earned 62% as much as men in the same job titles. That figure has jumped 20 percentage points to women's current earnings of 81 cents on the dollar.

Most of that progress, however, came between the 1980s and the early 2000s. Improvements in the gender wage gap largely stalled after the onset of the Great Recession, and women's salaries have hovered around 80% of men's for roughly the past decade.

Here are the 15 jobs with the largest gender wage gaps, based on the latest data from the BLS:

1. Insurance sales agents
Women's median weekly earnings: $641
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 62.5%

2. Retail salespersons
Women's median weekly earnings: $436
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 64.3%

3. Sales and related workers (all other)
Women's median weekly earnings: $653
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 65.6%

4. Real estate brokers and sales agents
Women's median weekly earnings: $680
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 66%

5. Personal financial advisors
Women's median weekly earnings: $1,016
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 66.3%

6. Marketing and sales managers
Women's median weekly earnings: $1,110
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 67%

7. Education administrators
Women's median weekly earnings: $1,052
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 67.2%

8 (tie). General and operations managers
Women's median weekly earnings: $971
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 67.6%

8 (tie). Physicians and surgeons
Women's median weekly earnings: $1,418
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 67.6%

10. Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents
Women's median weekly earnings: $862
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 69.1%

11. Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers
Women's median weekly earnings: $570
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 69.2%

12. Claims adjusters, appraisers, examiners, and investigators
Women's median weekly earnings: $803
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 69.3%

13. Financial managers
Women's median weekly earnings: $988
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 70.3%

14. First-line supervisors of production and operating workers
Women's median weekly earnings: $674
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 70.6%

15. Sales representatives (wholesale and manufacturing)
Women's median weekly earnings: $822
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 70.8%

Is this Britain's strangest pet owner? Meet the woman with 40 CATS

WE'RE a nation of animal lovers but none of us has quite as many as retired secretary Marlene who shares her house with her 40 cats.The cat enthusiast is surrounded day and night by the 40 felines who follow her around her home.

They are groomed and bathed every day, a procedure which can see Marlene up until the early hours of the morning as she prepares them for shows.

The unusal pet owner spends around �200 a week on the felines' food and although she received funds following her mother's death to feed the cats, she admis the money is running out.

Marlene's mother died nine years ago leaving her 14 pedigree Persians to add to her own 26 cats.

She said: "The cats never upset me, I like people but sometimes they can be aggravating. I have closed myself down to the only pleasure which is being with the animals I'm surrounded by."

Her best friend Coleen admitted that she had named Marlene 'her eccentric friend.'

Coleen added: "Her life is her cats. I couldn't imagine Marlene without her cats. I couldn't cope with 40 but she does."

Marlene's story is one of many exposed by recent Channel 5 programme Pet Horders.

Another pet horder came in the form of Deb and her family who share their Yorkshire home with a brood of chickens.

Her passion for poultry started when she passed a farm snd was overwhelmed by the shrieking of chickens being kept in terrible conditions.

She crammed 60 birds into her car and headed home.

Since then, Deb has sold the business that she used to run and now nurses and cares for them all on a full-time basis. Deb plans to rescue and care for more abused animals, no matter what species.

Countdown viewers left blushing over 'orgasmed' spelling round

Letters chosen during one round of the Channel 4 show spelt the word �orgasmed� and the eight-letter contribution was displayed by presenter Rachel Riley.

Contestants had to find the longest word from the selection of nine letters chosen � E, A, S, R, P, G, O, M and D.

The best efforts by the players were the six-letter �grapes� and seven-letter �grasped� in the edition of the afternoon show.

But lexicographer Susie Dent, 46, in dictionary corner, came up with �orgasmed�. Host Nick Hewer, 69, said: �Oh, well done.�

Rachel, 27, who competed on this year�s Strictly Come Dancing on BBC1 before she was knocked out in week six, then arranged the letters on the board.

The word �orgasmed� has appeared on the show before. It was used in the final three years ago when Jeff Stelling was the presenter.

Hilarious moment cow releases more than hoped

AS HIGHLY-efficient methane machines, cows and bulls have often been blamed for the increases in greenhouse gases.

They are known to produce up to 500 litres of methane every day. But this bovine seemed to go one further by appearing to light up an entire field in the French countryside.

However, the flames which seem to be bursting out of the animal�s behind are an optical illusion...the blaze is at a farm some distance behind it.

The extraordinary image was captured by amateur photographer Bertrand Kulik as he passed through a field in Issy l�Eveque, Burgundy.

What�s More Terrifying Than An Abandoned Psych Ward? Actually Going Inside�OMG.

A Reddit user by the name of DrZa1us explored the abandoned Kings Park Psychiatric Center in the state of New York. It has been abandoned for almost a decade. After the patients left, what remained was terrible memories and haunted rooms.


These will give you chills.

The Kings Park Psychiatric Center is known by Kings Park locals simply as �The Psych Center.�

It operated from 1885 until 1996.

The state of New York closed the facility.

The state released its few remaining patients or transferred them to the still-operational Pilgrim Psychiatric Center.

As patient populations grew throughout the early part of the 20th century, the hospital itself continued to grow, and by the late 1930s the state began to build upward instead of outward.

Who knows what happened in these halls.

Kudos to those who are brave enough to enter this hellish building. I know I wouldn�t.

Put Down The Phone! This Is Actually The Sweetest Thing I�ve Ever Seen In My Life.

When wedding photographer Jason Lee�s mother fell ill with cancer, he wanted to take his daughters to see her. Unfortunately, he was unable to do so because of sheer distance. But, being a creative and loving son, he found another way to show his mother her grandchildren. He began taking adorable photos with his little girls Kristin and Kayla and posting them on his blog so his mom could see. The results are absolutely heartwarming.

Jason�s reason for creating this massively popular blog was so simple and sweet:

In November 2006, I started a personal blog that chronicled the lives of my 2 daughters, Kristin and Kayla. The reason for the blog was simple, to capture their daily lives for my mother, who was diagnosed with non hodgkin�s lymphoma and wasn�t able to see them on a regular basis. My mom still continues to fight, and I am blessed to have her in our lives today.


It�s no surprise that the love of these two little girls kept her going!