( CNN ) -- The CEO of GoDaddy.com on Friday defended an online video that shows him shooting and killing an elephant in Zimbabwe . `` It takes a guy like me '' to protect villagers ' crops from rogue elephants , he said . Bob Parsons , founder of the Scottsdale , Arizona-based web-hosting service , posted the graphic video on his Twitter account on March 14 . The footage , shot March 8 , shows him hunting an elephant on a farm and posing with a shotgun beside its corpse . Then , it shows locals crowding around the dead animal and cutting off pieces of its meat . Parsons said he killed the animal for the good of local farmers whose crops are often destroyed by elephants . `` They would say 'please come back , ' `` he said , arguing the measure is an effective way to protect crops and feed hungry local residents . The video shows him walking through a field of flattened sorghum plants , which he said had been crushed by roaming elephants . The reason he posted the video , Parsons said , is because he wants `` people to know what goes on over there . '' `` There were people who walked 25 miles to get to that elephant , '' he said , referencing a food crisis that has often plagued developing countries . But critics call his methods extreme . The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals initiated an online boycott of GoDaddy.com and its services until Parsons `` stops shooting animals , '' according to the organization 's website . Parsons ' own website has also been inundated by negative comments about the video . `` A lot of the people who are upset about this are animal lovers , '' Parsons said . `` Their heart is in the right place but they just do n't understand the situation . '' He called the fact that the elephant meat provided food for the people `` a bonus . '' `` They literally have nothing and they 're on the brink of starvation , '' he said . Parsons has traveled to Zimbabwe for several years , but only last year began hunting elephants at the request of local farmers , he said . Elephant experts say it is not illegal to kill rogue elephants in Zimbabwe . Parsons said he has killed five elephants . PETA rejected Parsons ' explanation , with the organization 's president , Ingrid Newkirk , releasing a statement saying , `` If Bob Parsons really wanted to help African villagers , he would use his money to promote one of the many effective , nonlethal methods available to protect crops -- not act like a little boy with a gun . '' In a press release , PETA said it is pulling its business from GoDaddy.com , and the group labeled Parsons `` Scummiest CEO of the Year . '' Meanwhile , asked if the PETA boycott had affected GoDaddy.com 's business , company spokeswoman Elizabeth Driscoll said , `` There has been no significant change in business . ''
NEW : `` It takes a guy like me '' to protect villagers ' crops from rogue elephants , Parsons says . GoDaddy founder Bob Parsons posts a video showing him shooting an elephant . Parsons says the kill , in Zimbabwe , gave local farmers meat and protected their crops . Animal rights group PETA launches an online boycott of GoDaddy .