Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons shot an elephant on a trip to Zimbabwe earlier this month, and, as expected, animal-rights activists are furious.
Parsons posted a video on his blog last week with the title "Hunting Problem Elephant, My 2011 Vacation," which shows him blasting away at an elephant that he claims was trampling crops in a field in Lobola -- hence the "problem elephant."
In one of the captions on the video, Parsons writes that hunting "problem" elephants is the most "rewarding" thing he does.
While Parsons is thrilled with his solution to the elephant "problem" in Zimbabwe, animal-rights activists are calling the video a "gruesome, four-minute elephant snuff film."
The website change.org (we're looking into whether the website uses GoDaddy.com, stay tuned) is a forum for angry activists to create e-petitions supporting various causes (it's essentially a web-based whiners-r-us for people too busy to pick up a picket sign). An animal rights activist from Los Angeles used the site to start a petition called "Tell Go Daddy's CEO: Real Men Don't Kill Elephants."
"While Parsons fancies himself a hero, the fact is there are many more humane, gun-free ways to keep elephants away from crops," animal lover Laura Goldman, the creator of the petition, writes.
"Conservationists and farmers have been working together to create harmless elephant-shooing devices, such as chili-infused string fences, beehives on poles, and people standing guard to bang bamboo sticks, ring cowbells and shine spotlights on the elephants when they approach the crops at night."
Parsons fought back against the haters on his blog yesterday, saying, "The people there have very little, many die each year from starvation, and one of the problems they have is the elephants, of which there are thousands and thousands, that trash many of their fields destroying the crops."
Parsons' claims that do-gooder-ism that led him to kill the elephant isn't exactly supported by the audio he selected for the video.
The day after Parsons shoots the elephant, about a hundred villagers -- many of whom are sporting orange "Go Daddy" hats -- are seen cheering as they butcher the animal. AC/DC's "Hells Bells" is playing in the background.
See the video of Parsons gunning down an elephant below.
