Bob Parsons, the CEO of domain registry company GoDaddy, apparently enjoys hunting endangered species for fun. Parsons recently posted the above video on his blog, which shows him hunting an elephant in Africa after it trampled crops. In the video, he states, “For the second year in a row, I spent 10 days hunting problem elephants in Zimbabwe. Of everything I do, this is the most rewarding.” Rewarding?! We think “horrifying” and “nauseating” would be more apt descriptions.
Parsons justifies hunting elephants by saying that they destroy crops and could lead to the starvation of farmers and their families. The hunt takes place at night, and a bull elephant is shot, allegedly by Parsons. A stomach-turning image shows Parson proudly leaning on the dead elephant.
GoDaddy immediately came under fire from animal rights groups and environmental activists. PETA reportedly closed their account with GoDaddy, and gave Parsons the “first ever scummiest CEO of the year award.” The Examiner reports that Parsons defended his actions, writing, “He states PETA and other humane organizations are ‘misinformed’ and in Zimbabwe, Botswana and South Africa elephants are not endangered.” But according to both the World Wildlife Fund and the International Fund for Animal Welfare, African elephants are indeed endangered.
A GoDaddy competitor, NameCheap.com, has taken the GoDaddy’s huge misstep as an opportunity. NameCheap is offering a transfer of domain names from GoDaddy for $4.99 with 20 percent of the profits going to SaveTheElephants.com. So far, no GoDaddy representative has commented on the situation.
whilst I personally am no fan of hunting, I do live in Africa and the unfortunate reality is that the elephant would have killed one way or another because of the potential threat to locals. I can only hope the hunt was done ethically.
This is awful!!!!!! There are alternative ways to save these crops.
While the human population is reaching 7 billion it is disturbing to hear of the elephant overpopulation problems.
As a hunter and technology expert, i am both disgusted and appalled at this. The elephant is one of the few animals on earth who is self aware and intelligent. Bob Parsons shows no respect for the environment nor the animals he hunts. I would find it quite satisfying if he were to be charged with poaching. Tried and jailed.
I expect that it is the government which allows the elephants to be squeezed into a small area that cannot sustain their population that is to blame. Why are subsistence farmers living on land that should be set aside as a nature preserve? We have the technology to live in harmony with animals if we would only use it. A CEO of a company as big as Go Daddy wants to spend his time and money as a glorified exterminator rather than show them the way to co-exist. Perhaps he too is ignorant.
I think it’s ironic that the crowd from neighboring villagers trying to get a piece of meat from the elephant trampled more of the sorgum than the elephants did. Who wants to bet that they were invited by the hunters to make a spectacle for their video?
pig
Hunting in the United States is not associated with any particular class or culture. In fact, 78% of Americans support legal hunting. Regulation of hunting within the United States dates from the 19th century. Some modern hunters see themselves as conservationists and sportsmen in the mode of Theodore Roosevelt and the Boone and Crockett Club. Local hunting clubs and national organizations provide hunter education and help protect the future of the sport by buying land for future hunting use. America is not running out of deer, no sir and we shoot them as much as Duck Hunt on Nintendo. Animals hunted in America will probably never go extinct because their are legal catch limits and the demand to have them helps keep them around. Each year, nearly $200 million in hunters’ federal excise taxes are distributed to state agencies to support wildlife management programs, the purchase of lands open to hunters as well as campers and backpackers. One dead elephant is worth a lot to the locals. In Tanzania for instance, it is estimated that a safari hunter spends 50-100 times that of the average eco-tourist. The average photo tourist may demand luxury accommodations. In contrast, the average safari hunter stays in tented camps. Safari hunters are also more likely to use remote areas, uninviting to the average eco-tourist. Advocates argue that these hunters allow for anti-poaching activities and revenue for local communities that have revenue for conservation, land purchase and in the future, genetic and breeding programs. If you make something illegal, people break the law, that’s why we have poaching, cause they don’t care about the law and the locals don’t have the money to support initiatives, their to busy trying to feed their children. If some rich white guy can a ease the burden on many locals suffering from poverty, more power to him. Ivory is a dirty word, but, they make great billiard balls.
If you scroll all the way down to the bottom, their are adds by google. I saw one for a Dodge Charger SRT-8, how green is that???? Oh well, it’s got charge in the name, I assume Inhabitat got confused.
Parson has a long history as a RWNJ. This is only the most recent instance. he does this sort of thing Ted Nugent-style to attract attention.
The killing of sentient beings is nothing less than murder and those guilty deserve to be punished. Unfortunately, human arrogance and ignorance have prevented most from such an enlightened understanding.
dbash, if only more people thought this way about their fellow man, born and unborn, the world would be a better place.
Who still thinks elephants are smart……….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2y_LEbdEVE
It is so easy for people that don’t live there with the danger of elephants, to easily say, “Turn it into a park!” and kick the people off the land. Typical entitled European thought (where’d you think American got the idea from?) How would you like it the someone in Russia began claiming that you should leave your neighborhood so it could be a preserve for the newly discovered and almost-extinct red web-footed tit mouse?
Humans first. Animals second.
n Maryland, we went through such great lengths and debates to get rid of the swans, which we’re eating the grasses. Grasses that were crucial to the Chesapeake bay region for crabs and shellfish to spawn in. They were an invasive species and getting rid of them would have seemed…….beneficial for the fishing industry and the environment. Food for thought. Which only goes to show people only focus on conservation if the animal happens to be cute. The California Condor was the ugliest thing the federal government ever paid to protect. Try making a stuffed animal out of that World Wildlife Fund. If there’s anything I learned from David Attenborough is that nature is cruel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7eQKSf0LmY