• Hunter Franchesca Esplin went viral after posting a Facebook video of her hunting a mountain lion and a photo with its bloody corpse.
• The pictures infuriated conservationists, with the head of one organization calling it a “trophy hunt.”
• Esplin told INSIDER that she’s a conservationist herself who hunts to keep the predator population down.
• She also said she and her family ate the mountain lion, which she believes is more ethical to eat than factory-farmed animals and tastes “stronger than pork but is a lean white meat.”

The hunter who went viral for posing with the corpse of a mountain lion she killed is defending herself, telling INSIDER that she uses hunting for meat since it’s more ethical than factory farming.

Franchesca Esplin, the hunter, said…