GoDaddy.com CEO Kills Wild Elephants: two actions

Image | Pro Wildlife: http://www.prowildlife.de/

Please click on and sign the following, thank you:

1. I have a concern about GoDaddy

2. Tell Go Daddy’s CEO: Real Men Don’t Kill Elephants

1. Background | From IDA

Bob Parsons, CEO of the internet domain hosting company Go Daddy, posted a video blog that shows him shooting and killing an elephant in Zimbabwe. This is not the first time he has publicly bragged about killing elephants and other hunting activities.

Parsons says he’s not ashamed of his reprehensible action, claiming to be helping villagers whose crops were trampled. But his lame excuse doesn’t hold water. Parsons is just another trophy hunter looking to justify murdering an innocent animal.

Real conservationists are working toward real solutions that include promoting responsible land use policies that address the needs of elephants and people so the two can live in harmony. And they work with farmers to implement methods of alleviating human-elephant conflicts without injuring or killing elephants, including the use of proven elephant-repellers such as chile peppers and bees, and guards to make noise and shine spotlights on the elephants when they approach the crops at night.

Despite Parsons’ self-serving claims that elephants are not endangered in Africa because populations may have increased in some countries, the recent increase in poaching and civil strife continue to drive the African elephant toward extinction.

If Parsons has any real interest in helping African farmers and feeding the people of Zimbabwe, he should dip into his overflowing pockets and contribute to the efforts of real conservation groups working to protect farmers and the wildlife around them. Killing elephants will not solve Zimbabwe’s problems.

1. Use the form HERE to send a message to Go Daddy Group president Warren Adelman, telling him that Parsons’ appalling actions will have negative consequences for the company. We’ll cc their PR Department also.
2. If you have a Go Daddy account, cancel it at the next available opportunity. Do not do business with Go Daddy until the killing stops.
3. Share this information with all your friends, family and colleagues.

Related video | GoDaddy CEO shoots elephant

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2. Background from Change | By Laura Goldman

In his video blog, Hunting Problem Elephant — My 2011 Vacation, that was posted on GoDaddy.com last week, Go Daddy CEO and Founder Bob Parsons shoots and kills an elephant in Zimbabwe.

Go Daddy, of course, is the web-hosting company infamous for its sleazy Super Bowl commercials featuring scantily clad women — er, “Go Daddy girls.” According to CNN, Parsons has received hate mail saying the ads promote pornography.

As for what his elephant snuff film promotes, if you were to ask Parsons, his answer might very well be … heroism.

“Each year I go to Zimbabwe and hunt problem elephant,” Parsons wrote. “It’s one of the most beneficial and rewarding things I do.”

In the almost 4-minute video, which begins with a viewer discretion advisory for graphic violence, Parsons and his team are “flagged down by a desperate farmer,” according to the titles. “When crops are lost subsistence farmers risk starvation.”

“The elephants have been here three nights in a row,” Parsons says to the camera. “We’re hoping they come back for a fourth. And if they do? We’re gonna be here to greet them.”

Three bull elephants enter the field that night. According to a title that evidently wasn’t spell-checked, “Team waits until the elephant are close then turns on lights duct tapped to their rifles & opens fire.”

Parsons shoots first, and an elephant falls. “Bob fires again,” the title says. “Both shots hit home.” The two other bulls run off.

Parsons is shown smiling and leaning back against his kill, his rifle perched victoriously on the dead beast’s head. The next morning, dozens of villagers — all sporting Go Daddy baseball caps — merrily butcher the elephant as “Hell’s Bells” by AC/DC plays in the background.

“Bulls do not return to fields. Crops are saved. Team leaves to find another farmer in need of help,” the end title says.

As much as Parsons wants to portray himself as a hero for saving the farmer’s livelihood, in actuality there are many other humane ways to deal with the elephants vs. crops problem in Africa.

As Stephanie Feldstein wrote on Change.org last November, conservationists and farmers have already devised plenty of clever and harmless methods of keeping elephants away from precious crops. For example, chili-infused string and beehives on poles — not bullets — can keep elephants away. In Sumatra, the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Crop Protection Unit stands guard over crops, and when elephants approach, they bang bamboo and shine spotlights to scare them off. Not a single bullet is necessary.

Parsons has built and runs a very successful company. While it may not be as testosterone-spiking as blowing away a 6-ton bull elephant in the dark, if Parsons truly wants to help Zimbabwe farmers, he can put his business savvy to use by helping farmers protect their crops while sparing elephants’ lives. Sign the petition telling Parsons that real men don’t kill elephants — they find ways to save their lives.



Additional Resources:

Animal Wrongs

Compassion

Cruelty-Free

What Can I Do?

Chief Executive Orifice
is the title he deserves
from the path of kindness
he has swerved
how would he feel
if the gun was pointed
at him
and he saw his lifeforce
flicker and dim:(

Karen Lyons Kalmenson