back to article Go Daddy CEO under fire for 'elephant snuff film'

Bob Parsons, chief executive of the market-leading domain name registrar Go Daddy, has come to blows with animal-rights organisation PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), after he shot an African elephant and posted the video online. bobparsonselephantkillingscum Problem CEO Parsons on the prowl... PETA …

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  1. John Angelico
    Coat

    PETA or PITA?

    You choose.

    Meh? I'm for the latter!

    Yeah, yeah, OK, it was a bad pun, and the rhyme was verse!

    The one with Roget's Thesaurus in the pocket, thanks.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Mmmmmm

      People Eating Tasty Animals

  2. Andrew Moore

    The irony is delicous....

    "The domain peta.org appears to be currently registered with Go Daddy"

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Ironic given how PETA killed 2,200 pets in 2010, 93.8% of all they recieved

    Pets Killed By PETA

    Year Received Transferred Adopted Killed

    2010 2,345 63 44 1.86% 2,200 93.8%

    2009 2,366 31 8 0.34% 2,301 97.3%

    2008 2,216 34 7 0.32% 2,124 95.8%

    2007 1,997 35 17 0.85% 1,815 90.9%

    2006 3,061 46 12 0.39% 2,981 97.4%

    2005 2,165 69 146 6.74% 1,946 89.9%

    2004 2,655 1 361 13.60% 2,278 85.8%

    2003 2,224 1 312 14.03% 1,911 85.9%

    2002 2,680 2 382 14.25% 2,298 85.7%

    2001 2,685 14 703 26.18% 1,944 72.4%

    2000 2,681 28 624 23.27% 2,029 75.7%

    1999 1,805 91 386 21.39% 1,328 73.6%

    1998* 943 125 133 14.10% 685 72.6%

    Total 29,823 540 3,135 10.56% 25,840 85.9%

    Official PETA documents (pdf) filed with State of Virginia:

    http://tinyurl.com/PetaKillsAnimals-pdf

    http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

    1. Dante

      but

      I bet they don't do it for sport though, eh?

      1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

        Re: but

        Peta are fanatical hypocritical pricks and that guy is a dickless turd. No one comes out of it well.

        1. PaulR79
          Heart

          Ah Sarah..

          The voice of reason.

          ... That may have sounded sarcastic but was not intended that way. Yes, I'm putting a disclaimer in my comment.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          FAIL

          Heh, you've obviously experienced Go Daddy as well

          Go Daddy == scum sucking puffed up pieces of blow fish turd

          They _will not_ remove a person's account details even when directly asked.

          Unethical as all heck.

    2. RichyS

      And...

      ... I bet no one gets to eat the dead ones.

      What a waste.

    3. The Cube
      Thumb Up

      So perhaps they missed off the K?

      Being the People for the Ethical Transferral, Adoption and Killing of animals, PETAK.org...

  4. The BigYin

    Question

    Is it problem elephants? Or problem people?

    Have the elephants encroached on to the farmland, or has the farmland encroached into (or has farming drained the water and killed) the elephant's normal habitat?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      This is Zimbabwe

      Given the state of Mugabeland, it is a wonder any elephants are left at all.

      1. mike 32
        Stop

        Elephants in Mugabeland

        Living in South Africa, I got to visit Mugabeland in 2005. In Hwange National Park, we saw elephants - huge amounts. Seeing them after a while got pretty damn boring, actually.

        They are incredibly destructive, and the vegetation for mile upon mile was limited to stripped and broken tress, as they moved through the areas feeding. As I understand it, the balance of animals was way out, with little control of elephant populations and poaching of anything smaller being rampant.

        In areas where people live (hopefully outside any recognised parks) rogue elephants must be immensely troublesome. Control of the populations (including culling) is necessary, but I disagree with renting out the opportunity to commercial hunters. There's no indication his shooting was sanctioned by any authorities with both the animal and the villagers best interests in mind, but lets hope it was. Unfortunately, money talks there, and you can hunt almost anything you want. PETA normally have the wrong end of the stick, but posting such a video was stupid on his part, undoubtedly.

  5. IglooDude

    Hmmm

    As GoDaddy's primary market is male geeks (thus its vaguely softporn-ish commercials), and PETA's main membership is whatever the opposite of that is, it is not difficult to imagine that a PETA-led boycott would actually help GoDaddy's bottom line...

  6. RichyS

    Elephant legs

    Explains where the donner kebab meat comes from.

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: Elephant legs

      A valuable contribution to the discourse.

  7. nsld
    FAIL

    Given that

    PETA slay over 2000 "problem" animals each year the double irony of this is breathtaking.

    I think his analysis of the outcome of some tree hugging fuckwitts with chilli string is both apt and amusing and would make an excellent video as well.

  8. HP Cynic

    Titular

    I think the issue is not that he dealt with a "problem animal" by killing it but that he filmed it and then posed over the corpse like a redneck idiot.

  9. Pahhh
    Stop

    Licensed cull...

    As much as I would question anyone that shoots an animal for a hobby, these are licensed culls. They sell the right to shoot an animal that needs to be culled. One way or the other, the animal was doomed.

    I cant comment on alternative ways of dealing with the problem. I know that licenses are often given for animals that need to be put down for humane reasons.

    I am not pro hunting in the least, never having killed anything bigger than a wasp, but it appears that most game hunters are actually ecologist and ironically also love animals. Hunting to them is about doing the primitive thing and they are generally very big on keeping nature as it was.

    Mind you, images from South Park are still engraved in my brain "Its comming right for us..".....

  10. ravenviz Silver badge
    Flame

    Polygonal PETA

    There can be many sides to every story, his reasoning I think is sound (downvote now) but I am undecided as to whether the publicity is itself justified, or it is justified and posting on YouTube is not the right way to go about it, or posting to Youtube is a reasonable way of making knowledge about herd culling available to a wider audience but you could at least show some remorse. In the end, man's encroachment on wild habitat is to blame. All I do know is that the elephants are still the victim, however you look at it.

  11. jake Silver badge

    People Eating Tasting Animals v.s. GoDaddy ...

    Seems to me both are ignorable media whores.

  12. Chris Lovell
    Go

    PETA

    *People Eating Tasty Animals

    FTFY

  13. System 10 from Navarone
    Flame

    Killing for personal enjoyment

    If you're shooting elephants for fun at least admit it. What a complete twat.

    1. Chimp
      Grenade

      Sauce for the goose

      If you're eating animals for enjoyment, at least admit what is going on to keep you fed. Free world, no laws broken. The guy may be a jerk but ethical hunting isn't what makes him one.

  14. tas
    FAIL

    Offense is obvious. A CEO should know better

    It's one thing to travel around the world for culling/animal population control. It's quite another to effectively make an "animal snuff" film where you take pride of place in it and then publish it online to a global population.

    It's like Jay Leno the US comedian quiped, "See, in America, we like everyone to know the good work we're doing anonymously!"

  15. stranger
    WTF?

    "many die each year from starvation"

    where? In the village you were visiting? or a 1000 km way? or are you just another white American who think that Africa is a single country where everyone is poor and starving?

    what I find surprising about those "problem animals", is that they seem to appear right when some businessman feel like hunting.... and by pure coincidence those "problem animals" happened to be what the businessman wanted to hunt!

    1. James Hughes 1

      Same argumment

      As why of why oh why are landfill sites always sited under flocks of seagulls?

  16. Graham Bartlett

    Problem?

    Some folks want to hunt things. Some areas have too many of a particular animal which needs culling (or have a specimen of that animal which is considered too dangerous). Putting the two together seems a natural combination.

    Sure, across Africa as a whole, elephant numbers are well down. But in certain areas, there are far too many of them. And apparently you can't easily cart them around - quite apart from the whole size problem, elephant herds reportedly don't respond well to newcomers being dropped in by well-meaning humans.

  17. Dave So
    Thumb Up

    Sweet

    Occassionally news stories have a gem in the last paragraph. This story meets that criteria fully.

    Top reporting.

    1. Christopher Blackmore
      Thumb Up

      Please...

      "that criterion"

  18. Jim 59
    Thumb Down

    Elephant

    Don't like the man, don't like his leisure activities. Don't like the tendentious nonsense he covers it all with. Hunting has place, of course. But this isn't it. Guy, you are not rescuing Zimbabweans. You're just a corpulent holiday maker who likes to shoot elephants, and pays a lot for the privilege. Just say that. Be a man.

    Not that keen on PETA either.

  19. Gareth

    Competitors running ad campaigns about this

    Got an e-mail from Namecheap with an offer for discounted domain transfers with a donation to "Save the Elephants" included.

  20. SoaG
    Go

    It's just a ploy

    Given the style of GoDaddy advertising his objectives here are clear:

    He's trying to get some naked PETA protesters around the office.

    Seriously though, drawing complaints from PETA, Greenpeace or any of the other anti-human, pro-stoneage eugenicist groups is always a badge of honour.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    PETA

    The guys seems like a twat, but as PETA are the reason I can't nip to my local supermarket when I fancy a nice bit of foie gras on my toast I'm not a big fan of them either.

    Fortnum & Mason here I come...

    1. Steve the Cynic

      foie gras

      Round where I live, I can get foie gras on my takeaway *pizza*.

      Of course, it's in France, but there you go.

      See http://www.laboiteapizza.com/ if you don't believe me.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Thumb Up

        Excellent!

        Vive la France!

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Ewwwww....

        Not happy with plain boring slimy liver? Have exploded liver instead... Yummy.

        NOT!

  22. Pahhh
    Stop

    @AC ref PETA and Fois Gras

    Uhm.... Fois Gras is a tricky topic. It involves force feeding a duck using a funnel several times a day. Its very very wrong.

    No sane person would approve that type of farming. The tricky part of this is fois gras is incredibly tasty and people turn a blind eye .... me included. Hopefully someone will save my sole and have the whole process banned soon.....

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Joke

      Your sole....

      Is a replacement for Fois Gras.....

      Hmmmmm sets up feet reprocessign plant

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Not an advertisement I promise

    Namecheap are jumping on the Anti-GD bandwagon by offering to donate money to an elephant charity if you transfer your domains names to them.

  24. phil mcracken
    Grenade

    If God had intended us to be vegetarians...

    ... he wouldn't have made meat so tasty.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      If God had not intended us to eat animals

      then why did He make them out of meat?

      1. sabroni Silver badge
        Thumb Down

        what are you made out of then?

        Or are you in favour of cannibalism?

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Humane meat

    In my opinion, it is hypocritical to oppose hunting in general unless you are a vegetarian. Hunted meat is _clearly_ more humane than factory meat. I've been in packing plants, and I'm sure there are enough scenes on the internet to give one a flavor of the environment. (sorry :) Failing that, read "The Jungle" by Sinclair or for a more modern take "Fast Food Nation" to get an idea of where your food comes from.

    Personally, I'm a pro-hunting ethical vegan, and not surprisingly the only one in my gun club.

    (note that I speak of hunting in general, there are legitimate arguments for and against hunting of specific species)

  26. Peter Clarke 1
    Coat

    Saving Hungry Zimbabweans

    If he'e really serious about saving the locals then maybe he should be shooting Brother Robert and his cronies?

    Just a little bit of political satire in the Ben Elton mould.

  27. mark l 2 Silver badge

    just avoid godaddy anyway

    I just avoid using Godaddy anyway because their customer service was shocking, pulling my domain without notice because some unsubstantiated claim of copywrite infringment and not replying back to several emails sent over a period of weeks.

    Surely if Bob Parsons was wanting to help save locals in Africa he could donate some of his bank balance to charity's working in the area instead of shooting elephants?

  28. Joe User
    Joke

    Meat is murder

    Tasty, tasty murder

  29. ElReg!comments!Pierre
    Coat

    "Scummiest CEO of the Year Award"

    That's preposterous. Completely unfair and disgusting.

    I mean, Ellison has been working HARD for that title.

  30. The Grinning Duck
    Coat

    Sorry

    I'm sure there's some very serious underlying issues at hand here. But I simply can't get past the bees on a stick part.

    That's going to have me giggling for days.

  31. MistoRoboto
    Joke

    :-D

    You could say the CEO ran a"trunc"-ated function on the elephant's life. *ba dum chh*

  32. Eddie Hotchkiss
    Coat

    Missing a trick here

    What does elephant burger taste like. Sell it to the rest of the world and with the money they make they can afford more food/tools etc etc etc

    Alligator Tick

    Kangaroo Tick

    Buffalo Tick

    Bison Tick

    Cow Tick

    Horse Tick

    Elephant ............... waiting

    1. Paul Johnston
      Joke

      Tick?

      You eat ticks as in parasites on other animals?

      Urgh!!!

    2. ElReg!comments!Pierre
      Coat

      @Eddie

      Bison tick burger? Yuck!

  33. Oninoshiko
    Joke

    What?

    You mean Bob Parsons isn't into exhibitionistic-necrobeastiality?

    DAMN YOU HEADLINE WRITERS! You promised me a much more interesting (and scandalous) story.

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    The hostage-taking Go Daddy?

    Is this the same Go Daddy that (reputedly) reserves domains when you check to see if they are available and otherwise holds domains hostage? Good to know that the money he uses on his machismo enhancing fantasy vacations is made the old fashioned way. I'd vote for him over Ellison, but it is a close call.

  35. Jacob Lipman

    Meh

    Somebody above mentioned that the fellow may view Africa as one massive place devoid of geographical or ethnic distinctions - a big, starving continent. Very silly - doubtful, albeit possible, that he was thinking along those lines. Regardless of other countries on the continent, many of which are doing just fine, Zimbabwe is not. Remember hyperinflation resulting in multi-trillion-dollar notes being worth pennies within hours of printing, followed by the abandonment of a distinct Zimbabwean currency? That country has been mismanaged and abused to the brink of collapse. There are a lot of starving people in Zimbabwe - using the term "village" to describe an African community automatically conjurs up the image of a demeaning stereotype. Regardless, people in villages, and towns, and cities, are starving. Elephant is edible. Even if the people are not starving, a few thousand pounds of meat freely given to a small community frees up a great deal of resources and will allow the people, and the community, to improve their lot.

    It's entirely believable that he killed an elephant because he takes pleasure in killing animals. Human encroachment may be to blame for the "elephant problem" - regardless, that problem now exists and must be dealt with. If a wealthy foreigner wants to pay a substantial sum for the right to perform a neccesary function, and provide the meat produced by the action to people who will use it, I see nothing wrong.

    He may very well be an ass - glorifying the death of an animal and posing with its corpse certainly doesn't seem like the behavior of a gentleman. Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons still entails doing the right thing. I am curious what elephant tastes like...

    1. jake Silver badge

      @Jacob Lipman

      Elephant tastes like a cross between grass fed, dry aged beef and free range ostrich.

  36. Robert Simpson
    Grenade

    PETA

    A bunch of disgusting hypocritial cunts.

    I encourage everyone to find Penn & Teller's "Bullshit" episode about them and share it with friends.

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