Teenager's Online Posting of Hunted Animals She has Killed Causes Outrage
BLACKWELL: Have you seen these pictures? Before you look over, one is over my shoulder, but be warned they may make some of the kids uncomfortable. Texas cheerleader Kendal Jones hunts big game in Africa for sport. She has a public Facebook account shows her posing proudly with dead lions and elephants and leopards. But there are a lot of critics initially who responded with comments, calling her a monster. But she says she does it to conserve wildlife.</s>KOSIK: Now, on the other side, a support page created was created and it got almost 80,000 likes. But a representative for Jones says Facebook just shut it down. CNN did invite Ms. Jones to the show. She declined. We also invited Safari Club International, but they declined, saying in part, quote, "We feel this is no longer a discussion on wildlife conservation but rather a personal attack on a teenager."</s>BLACKWELL: Nicole Paquette joins us from Washington. She's vice president of the Wildlife Protection for the Humane Society of the U.S. Nicole, does Ms. Jones' argument that shooting animals helps to conserve wildlife hold water?</s>NICOLE PAQUETTE, VICE PRESIDENT, WILDLIFE PROTECTION, HUMANE SOCIETY OF U.S.: Absolutely not. To kill an animal, to hunt and animal is simply unacceptable in this time. It's merely a thrill kill. If she was truly wanting to conserve these animals she would be ensuring that her money went to on the ground conservation efforts to help anti- poaching, as well as to help the communities that live in and around these areas.</s>KOSIK: Nicole, let's listen to a sound from Safari club International. Does being a professional hunter make this anymore humane? Listen to this.</s>TIM GAFFORD, PRESIDENT, LUBBOCK CHAPTER, SAFARI CLUB INTERNATIONAL: You don't just go out and kill everything on site. When you go there, you have a professional hunter with you, and that professional hunter tells you when and what to do.</s>PAQUETTE: Well, essentially, most of these people who go to Africa to kill animals are hiring a private company whose sole issue is to have more money in their pockets. They care more about providing a ready inventory of animals for foreign travelers to kill, like an elephant, like a buffalo, like a rhino. These animals are on the brink population decline due to habitat loss and illegal poaching. We should be making sure that our money that is spent over there is going towards these on the ground efforts.</s>BLACKWELL: So what about -- I mean, I understand the argument in many ways is that this is -- is sport. For some people, it's lifestyle. And this is more of an attack on them and their lifestyle by some, maybe not you, than a protection of the animals.</s>PAQUETTE: Well, I mean, Ms. Jones actually went to a country, Zimbabwe, and she purported to kill, wanted to kill an elephant on Facebook. Now, it should be noted that just this year the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service actually stated and ended the import of elephants into this country due to the fact that there is lack of law enforcement on the ground and there is an increase in illegal poaching. Just last year over 300 elephants in Zimbabwe were poisoned to death. Therefore, the U.S. government actually stated that any kill of an animal, even if it's legal, is actually not sustainable, nor does it add to the -- it's not sustainable nor does it help the population that's on decline. And she went over there to kill an elephant. It's so shameful.</s>KOSIK: Nicole, what are ways people can save wildlife?</s>PAQUETTE: There's many ways. The Humane Society of the United States as well as our affiliate, Humane Society International, we are on the ground in various countries to actually stop the curve in illegal poaching of a rhino trade as well as the ivory trade. A, you can stop purchasing these products and don't contribute. But you also could do eco-tourism. I was lucky enough to actually go Africa. It was one of the best experiences of my life, and I shot those animals with a camera. And I and other people can go there and see those exact same animals generating revenue to come to help those animals on the ground.</s>KOSIK: OK, Nicole, thanks for your time. And if you want -- we want to be clear that the offer to Ms. Jones to come on the show here is still open, and we would be happy to hear from her.</s>BLACKWELL: All right, a huge blow to team Brazil in the World Cup. Superstar Neymar goes down with a fractured spine. And Wimbledon has a winner. Results of latest final ahead.