Cook, who is from New Zealand, told the Taraniki Daily News that she didn't think she did anything wrong, but the Maori tribe and others said the act "disrespected the mountain."
"It's culturally insensitive and not what I would expect someone to do on the summit of Mt. Taranaki," Stratford mayor Neil Volzke told the paper.
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A post shared by Jaylene Cook (@jaylenecook_) on
He said he doesn’t believe the pictures, which are posted on Cook’s Instagram account, are “offensive or obscene,” but that it was inappropriate because of how important the volcano is to the tribe.
The top of the mountain is a sacred place to the New Zealand Maori.
"It's like someone went into St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican and took a nude photo," Maori tribe spokesman Dennis Ngawhare told the BBC.
The mountain itself is seen as an ancestor to the tribe because it's considered the burial ground of the tribe's ancestors, the BBC reported.
"It's like someone went into the Vatican and took a nude photo." Instagram model Jaylene Cook angers Maoris in NZ https://t.co/sPzF4aCIn9 pic.twitter.com/vQU9MqwNXz
— BBC Newsbeat (@BBCNewsbeat) May 3, 2017
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