GoDaddy CEO: Elephant hunts help the locals

Over the years, GoDaddy has reveled in the controversy generated by its racy Super Bowl ads, which have generated a level of buzz other Internet domain-hosting companies would kill for.

Not this time.

On Thursday, Bob Parsons, the company's chief executive, came under sharp criticism after videos of him hunting big game in Zimbabwe went viral. One clip shows Parsons on vacation this year bagging an elephant (warning: the video is graphic.) An earlier video from 2009 shows him in pursuit of a leopard that ultimately gets shot dead.

For whatever reason, the videos - which were posted publicly for the last three years - only this week began attracting much attention. They also sparked a call by PETA to boycott GoDaddy until Parsons agrees to abandon the annual hunts.

The animal rights organization sent Parsons an email presenting him with the group's first-ever "Scummiest CEO of the Year Award." If they make good on sending the certificate, however, Parsons said he plans on framing the award in his office.

"I couldn't be any better," he told CBSNews.com in an interview. "The blowback - you've got to look at who it's coming from: a small but very, very vocal group that moves in unison, inspired by PETA. Very few of them are our customers."

One former customer is PETA, which said it canceled its account with GoDaddy in protest. Tracy Reiman, PETA's executive vice president, accused Parsons of acting like the "Great White Hope" for African villagers. She challenged Parsons' claim that shooting elephants was the right way to manage local herd populations and said there were non-lethal methods that have proven effective at deterring elephants from destroying crops.

But Parsons brushed aside the criticism as misinformed.

"I think that most people when they see this video will understand what's happening," he continued. These people are on the brink of starvation; they need their crops and need to eat. Elephants are not endangered and probably there are too many of them. A lot of people are up in arms about this. Their hearts are in the right place but they don't understand the situation. If they'd go on one of my trips to Zimbabwe, they'd understand."

Parsons, who has proven deft at knowing how far to push the envelope with GoDaddy advertisements, said he does not expect the furor over his elephant hunts to negatively impact the company's brand.

"I expect sales will go up," he said. "The reason is that first of all, the average American is a very good individual who understands that people need to eat. They know there is a circle of life and they don't much care for political correctness. When they see this, people who are not familiar with GoDaddy will check us out. It'll be a good thing."

"People over there have a problem with problem elephants. They try to drive them out by beating drums, lighting fires, cracking whips but the elephants have learned to ignore them. The way to deal with it is with a few guys like me, who go through that and deal with it on behalf of these people," he said. Parsons added that the hunts were designed to help control the population and were targeted at male, or bull elephants.

"The bulls stay separate from the herd. So when you shoot the bull, it has no impact on social structure - and people get to eat," he said. "You talk about appreciative! When I go (to Zimbabwe) they can't thank me enough and they greet me with open arms."

He said he no longer plans to pursue leopards since it requires too much time and that would take away from the elephant hunts.

[danad54321]

It's a scientific fact that the size of a "hunters" prey is inversely proportion?al to the size of his .......wel?l you know

[curse914]

by kaylag04 April 1, 2011 8:39 AM EDT
Not at all - I'm sure that those who advocate converting biodiversity to even-aged monocultures to provide biofuels, and those removing biodiversity to install fields of solar panels care much more about biodiversity than those "culling" it...

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Excellent response; you have given one example of why Steady State Economics is the future.

[About_Time]

Let me run the numbers. Big Bog spends roughly $30,000+ to legally harvest an elephant which is something he enjoys. He spends an additional $10,000 on getting there. The average Zimbabwe annual income is probably less than $500 per year. They get 2,000 lbs of meat and a cool hat. A poor could be circus animal becomes part of the life cycle?

How much are animal lovers pitching into that economy? Instead, they're pitching those dollars into their obese American back sides making sure the compassionate nicer butcher at the feed lot keeps his job. Apparently their belief is burger is actually grown on styrafome in a big garden in the west.

[dodinyc]

One has to wonder if this man is paying the Zimbabwe government for licenses to hunt these animals, because surely there are people in that country with guns to take down a problem animal. It would also mean that he is financially supporting a brutal and oppressive regime.

[Martha12345]

Sorry, but you didn't use enough "English". The story isn't spinning !!

[newswatch3]

LIES LIES LIES. Parsons is a trophy hunter, this is not the only animal he has filmed and posed with. The US is the biggest importer of illegal and endangered African species and Parsons plays a role.

1. Elephants are already threatened from poaching for ivory.

2. Other methods exist to protect farmers and their crops from the depredations of elephants that do not involve killing them. If Parsons really cared he would employ them as killing this 1 elephant does nothing to help in the future. But Parsons isn't there to help he's there to kill.

3. The depiction of villagers hacking the elephant is a demeaning narrative of their plight. The presence of hunger in Zimbabwe can be attributed to corruption/greed of in-country oligarchs rather than to marauding elephants.

BOTTOM LINE: Mr. Parsons could have used his considerable influence to call for social justice for Zimbabwe's poor.

[tsigili]

Just another example of how CEO's are poor citizens.

[rafaeldrc]

It seems to me, when you have everything, the future looks easy, retirement is guaranteed, all your material wants have been satisfied, why not settle for debauchery of some sort, be it sexual or killing animals for no reason. You've got the loot and a gun, why not use them.

[kyle-dil]

This is unacceptable. If you take away the elephant's habitat, they are bound to come for your crop. And Mr. Parson uses everyone's misfortune as an excuse to kill an animal. Sickening! I cannot continue to buy from godaddy.
I moved away. I found a post on zuyt where bigrock.com initiated an offer for transfer ins at around $4. I had to use the code jumbosave.

[longtree-2009]

godaddy needs to be flushed down the loo along with the ceo. disgusting, really disgusting. let zimbawe take care of its regional animal population issues. parsons needs to take up social, animal issues here in the USA and not zimbawe. parsons needs to go for poor judgement.