- Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons and his kill
(Ed. Note: There is a more recent article on this topic here)
Bob Parsons, the owner of GoDaddy.com, has taken to shooting elephants in Africa citing that they are a threat to the crops of local villagers. PETA has countered that there are more humane ways of dealing with this issue than killing an ever encroached upon species. Many accuse Parsons of pleasure hunting under the guise of humanitarian efforts. You can judge for yourself in the video above.
The 538 Refugees domain has to date been maintained by Go Daddy. In light of Parsons’s actions, we will transfer our domains as soon as practicable. We can not, in good conscience, support a company that engages in such barbaric practices.
This brings us an opportunity to discuss the issue. What do you think?
Related Articles
- If GoDaddy.com’s CEO Shoots Elephants, Would You Switch Providers? (techland.time.com)
- GoDaddy.com CEO Defends Elephant Shooting (foxnews.com)
- GoDaddy’s Bob Parsons OK With Causing A Media Stampede (wired.com)
538 Refugees 
It sounds so innocent “elephant management” and then you see the photos. I would support the decision to cease business with this persons company.
Oh lord, not another idiot with an elephant gun. I don’t even like PETA but leave the elephants alone.
I love how they have conversations in sub audible bass tones. Years ago, my friends used to house sit with another such wanna be Teddy Roosevelt. He was an investment banker from some ancient local blue blood clan but a little gangly guy.
He’d travel the planet looking for exotic critters to blast and had a freezer full of ridiculous stuff like Zebra steaks or some such thing.
He ate lots of meat and one day he came down with a condition that forced him to become a vegetarian at which point he shifted focus to his exotic rock collection.
Masculinity anxieties are a menacing thing when fueled with grotesque wealth.
Elephant Management !?!? I didn’t even notice that. Yes vague euphemisms wallpaper over all manner of crimes against humanity and sanity.
I don’t understand why people are all bent out of shape over this, but nobody says a word about the “hunting ranches” you can find all over Texas. You drive down a back road in the Hill Country and pass a scrubby little overgrazed field that holds three zebras, an oryx and a couple of bison… all penned up for the hunting pleasure of some blow-dried executive in camouflage to get a “kill.” If he blasts away and keeps missing because the animals have the annoying habit of running around when shot at, the obliging “ranchers” will tie one to a tree so it can’t move while being slaughtered.
And yet we’re all upset over a dead elephant in Zimbabwe?
I pass a couple on Hwy 123/181 going down to the boat.
I have zero issue with hunting. (‘cept I can’t shoot birds for squat!) But what they are doing is NOT hunting. They are a disgrace to true huntsmen.
What Texas allows for whitetail hunting here is borderline for me. They actuallyallow you to set up feeders and sell “deer corn” down at the WalMart! Legally!
And feral hogs are legally “varmints” down here. No limit, no season.
Two words, fili:
Charismatic megafauna.
I already had issues with GoDaddy over their quasi-objectification of women as a marketing tool. This just sealed the deal. And apparently we’re not alone. A lot of other domain name owners are leaving as well. The little safari is going to be more costly than Parsons expected.
Two words, fili: Charismatic megafauna
More accurately FIVE words:
Charismatic megafauna meets hegemonic masculinity.
Oh god those ‘game ranches’ are even more ridiculous. There was even some remote cam business where a really lazy blow dry cohort could pull down a critter from the comfort of his desk.
Baiting game has been illegal in Mass like forever. If you are going to hit the bush to actually gather food, fine otherwise it’s like golf, a good walk in the woods spoiled by buffoons with firearms instead of golf clubs.
I seem to recall Cheney’s stupid accident happened in some Texas place that raises the birds. The rod and gun purist scene despises any pursuit of tampered or stocked fish and game.
Havoc has been caused to ecosystems by morons dragging critters from home and dumping them in new places. The Puget Basin has significant bullfrog problems as they are wiping out the native endemic species and don’t even get me started about pythons in the Everglades.
Chris… let’s start a national movement requiring that any blow-dried exec who kills an animal on a “game ranch” must first go to the Everglades and kill a python before being allowed to re-enter society and start earning money again.
Think how many problems we’d be solving, all at the same time! 🙂
..With only a Kabar knife and I’m in. If he makes a spear by putting the knife on a stick, I’ll let him slide.
@Chris… you’re such a softie.
I was thinking barehanded.
The primary rule among real hunters (been hunting for 50+ years now) is that you eat what you kill, and you don’t do it just for “sport”. The whole point of hunting wild game is that it’s wild, unavailable otherwise — a “game farm” is an oxymoron, and anybody who thinks going to a game farm and shooting tame animals is “hunting” is a moron. And anybody who thinks it’s “sport” is worse than a moron.
So I say they have to kill the python bare-handed … and then eat it. Raw.
So I say they have to kill the python bare-handed … and then eat it. Raw.
NOW we’re talkin’!
I’m with shortchain.
In August with no mosquito repellent!
@Chris Rich
One of my grad school projects was on the Everglades. They are actually making progress on the python issue.
That is surely encouraging. And the Puget Basin is a wreck of Himalayan blackberry cane breaks, English ivy running wild, out of control butterfly bush and invasive mollusks from ship ballast water. I imagine you are pretty well in the loop for all that fun stuff.
I worked for two weeks on some crazy ivy mess at the home of an elderly Microsoft Hippy in Bellevue. We hauled 6 truck loads of rolled up ivy out of that one small yard.