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Shocking revelations came to light on Friday as it was revealed that domain company GoDaddy.com CEO Bob Parsons took part in a Zimbabwe elephant hunt. The elephant, considered highly intelligent and endangered, was essentially poached.
Parsons defended himself after video footage emerged of the incident. He claims that the slaughter is necessary to keep the creatures from eating local crops.
People for the Ethnical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and Change.org are calling for a boycott of the GoDaddy.com website.
"PETA is closing its account with Go Daddy and urges everyone to follow suit," the group said in a note on its Web site, while encouraging others to do the same.
Ironically, Parsons company contributes to the Arizona Humane Society.
Parsons and GoDaddy.com are well known in the poker sector where they regularly sponsor tournaments. Popular poker pro Vanessa Rousso respresents Parsons company as a Go Daddy Girl as does race car driver Danica Patrick.
Parsons insists he was helping humanity by taking part in the elephant hunts.
"I spend a few weeks in Zimbabwe each year helping the farmers deal with problem elephants," he wrote. "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."
He claims to focus exclusively on old bulls that have little impact on herding.
"These people have literally nothing and when an elephant is killed it's a big event for them, they are going to be able to eat some protein," Parsons wrote.
Killing an elephant in this part of Zimbabwe for food is "no different than you or I eating beef, [though] I understand that with the endless choices of food we have at our supermarkets and how well fed all of us are, this situation is difficult to get your head around," he said.
PETA responded by saying that the locals should consider building fences.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
