--- title: GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons Tells TIME That He Doesn't Regret Shooting an Elephant description: GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons ignited an Internet firestorm when he uploaded a video of himself hunting and killing an elephant in Zimbabwe. What video? That... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7220479/godaddy-ceo-on-shooting-an-elephant-im-not-sorry/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2011-04-04T09:30:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-18T15:16:52.271Z article:section: Science og:title: GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons Tells TIME That He Doesn't Regret Shooting an Elephant og:description: GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons ignited an Internet firestorm when he uploaded a video of himself hunting and killing an elephant in Zimbabwe. What video? That... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7220479/godaddy-ceo-on-shooting-an-elephant-im-not-sorry/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons Tells TIME That He Doesn't Regret Shooting an Elephant twitter:description: GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons ignited an Internet firestorm when he uploaded a video of himself hunting and killing an elephant in Zimbabwe. What video? That... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Science](/section/science/) # GoDaddy CEO on Shooting an Elephant: I'm Not Sorry by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Apr 4, 2011 9:30 AM UTC by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) Apr 4, 2011 9:30 AM UTC GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons ignited an [Internet firestorm](http://m.gawker.com/5787676/meet-godaddys-ridiculous-elephant+killing-ceo) when he [uploaded a video](http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/03/30/shooting-an-elephant%e2%80%94why-godaddys-ceo-was-wrong/) of himself hunting and killing an elephant in Zimbabwe. What video? That would be this one: \[vodpod id=Video.5877956&w=425&h=350&fv=\] So is Parsons sorry for the elephant hunt—or at the very least, sorry that he put it up on the Internet? Absolutely not, as an uncontrite Parsons told me in an interview Friday night: --- > “” --- Parsons insists—as he has from the beginning of this mini-controversy—that he was doing the poor people of Zimbabwe a service by participating in a safari hunt to kill what he terms a “problem elephant” that had been destroying farmers’ crops. This wasn’t the first time Parsons had participated in such a hunt—he says he’s killed buffalo, antelope and other animals in Africa, before moving up to the elephant: --- > “” --- This isn’t the first time Parsons has participated in an elephant hunt—in fact, it’s not even the first time he put a video of himself doing so online. Here’s another one from last year:more \[vodpod id=Video.5906448&w=425&h=350&fv=\] As I [pointed out](http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/03/30/shooting-an-elephant%e2%80%94why-godaddys-ceo-was-wrong/) in my first post, no one is arguing that wildlife-human conflict isn’t real or a serious issue in places like rural Africa—or that there’s no such thing as a “problem elephant.” Instead of hunts, though, most conservation groups advise non-lethal measures, like having farmers use chili near their crops. (Like me, elephants don’t really have a taste for spicy food.) But Parsons says those methods are, well, stupid: --- > “” --- Except, not really. I spoke to [Barney Long](http://www.worldwildlife.org/who/experts/barney-long.html), the manager of the Asian species conservation programs for the [World Wildlife Fund](http://www.wwf.org/) (WWF), and he told me that non-lethal measures can and do work, for elephant and other human-animal conflict. Yes, elephants can be dangerous to human beings—they [can and do kill people](http://gothamist.com/2010/01/07/elephant%5Fkills%5Flong%5Fisland%5Fwoman%5Fan.php)—but that doesn’t mean the only solution is to hunt them down, even surgically, as Long told me: --- > “” --- Long admits that such smart development planning isn’t always possible—especially in a desperately poor country like Zimbabwe. In that case, there are short-term interventions that can work without bloodshed on either side: --- > “” --- The scary thing is that human-elephant conflict—like conflict between humans and wildlife generally—[is on the rise](http://www.eleaid.com/index.php?page=humanelephantconflict), thanks to expanding human population and the loss of animal habitat through deforestation and agriculture. Put simply, humans are taking the space of wildlife, as Long told me: --- > “” --- Parsons told me he spent $60,000 to $70,000 for his elephant safari. That’s obviously money that could have gone to any number of organizations that deal with human-wildlife conflict, like WWF, the [Wildlife Conservation Society](http://www.wcs.org/) or [Conservation International](http://www.conservation.org/Pages/default.aspx). Or, if Parsons wanted to directly help the people of Zimbabwe, he could have donated money to an NGO like [Operation Bootstrap Africa](http://www.operationbootstrapafrica.org/), which [has a five-star rating](http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=7033) from the watchdog Charity Navigator. To his credit, Parsons has [donated $1 million](http://www.innovativebuzz.com/videos/bob-parsons-episode/founderceo-of-go-daddy-bob-parsons-donates-500k-to-help-with-haiti-earthquake-video%5F60429a0a1.html) to help earthquake victims in Haiti, but he says there’s no one trustworthy to give his money to in Zimbabwe. “Who would I give it to?” Parsons asks. “The political climate in Zimbabwe is just too dicey.” Fine. You’re not going to get Parsons to admit any wrongdoing, or for that matter, any damage to his business, which he believes has been helped by all the controversy: --- > “” --- America, it’s up to you. If a CEO posting a video of oneself shooting and killing an elephant—an elephant that is a [vulnerable species](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African%5Felephant), one step away from being considered endangered—ends up paying off for his business, well, then punch my ticket for Canada. More from TIME: [The New Age of Extinction](http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1888728%5F1888736%5F1888858,00.html) [Saving the Wildlife of Madagascar](http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1844474,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7220479/godaddy-ceo-on-shooting-an-elephant-im-not-sorry/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7220479/godaddy-ceo-on-shooting-an-elephant-im-not-sorry/"},"headline":"GoDaddy CEO on Shooting an Elephant: I'm Not Sorry","datePublished":"2011-04-04T09:30:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-18T15:16:52.271Z","description":"GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons ignited an Internet firestorm when he uploaded a video of himself hunting and killing an elephant in Zimbabwe. What video? 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