A 19-Year-Old Who Hunts Endangered Animals And Posts Them On Facebook Sparks Outrage
Tens of thousands of people have signed multiple petitions to get her Facebook page with photos of Jones posing with dead animals using them as trophies to be taken down.
By Sadho Ram — 02 Jul 2014, 12:40 AM — Updated over 10 years ago
This is Kendall Jones, a 19-year-old from Cleburne, Texas. Recently she's become a fairly well-known figure on Facebook for her controversial page.
Jones has been hunting big game in Africa since she was 13 years old, and when she's not hunting, she's a cheerleader for Texas Tech University
Jones and her camera boys Josh, Kieran and Mack in Zimbabwe!
Image via https://www.facebook.com/kendalltakeswildSome of the photos on her Facebook page are pretty gruesome, most of them involving Jones posing over bodies of recently killed animals
At the time of publishing this story, she's gained over 26,000 Facebook fans on her page, and the number of Likes are growing by each second
A gallery of Jones posing with animals she has killed:
Flashback to 2009! Hippo raiding the farmers crops in the pea fields! PAC hunt!"
Image via https://www.facebook.com/kendalltakeswildMany of the comments on her page are a mix of hunting fans and animal rights activists that discovered the page
Commenting on a photo of Jones holding up the head of a large lion, one user said, “How could anyone take the life of such a beautiful animal and SMILE?? I just don’t get it, it’s sick!”
nypost.com
“Trophy hunting majestic and rare animals so you can get paid by the people who sponsor you is sick,” another user wrote.
nydailynews.comA hunter also gave his opinion, saying, “I’m a hunter and proud of that. That being said I eat what I shoot and only hunt overpopulated animals that other wise would starve or get diseased.”
Another disheartened Facebook user offered a more measured response: "No matter how you look at it, seeing people smiling over the dead body of such a majestic animal is just sad."
washingtonpost.comBut Jones says she's a conservationist, and there's an argument to be made that she actually is
According to a 2007 study published in National Geographic, "trophy hunting can play an essential role in the conservation of African wildlife." Basically, since trophy hunters have to pay for the rights to shoot big game, there are financial incentives to maintain the land these animals live on.
gawker.com
From National Geographic: In the 23 African countries that allow sport hunting, 18,500 tourists pay over $200 million a year to hunt lions, leopards, elephants, warthogs, water buffalo, impala, and rhinos. Private hunting operations in these countries control more than 540,000 square miles of land ... That's 22 percent more land than is protected by national parks.
nationalgeographic.comShe has tried to make this argument herself, writing:
"How would farmers be able to afford monthly feed and vet bills (over $15,000 a month) if there was no value on the animals? Come on people think about these things."
nydailynews.com“The vet drew blood, took DNA samples, took body and head measurements… I felt very lucky to be part of such a great program and procedure that helps the White Rhino population through conservation,”
gawker.com
However, Jones' comments about conservation haven't slowed down the amount of online backlash she's received, nor has it stopped animal lovers from making online petitions against her
More than 50,000 people signed one online petition started in response to her page, demanding Facebook remove it.
washingtonpost.com
Another petition, started by a South African citizen, was signed by more than 7,000 people, asking the South African government to ban Jones from the country.
nydailynews.comJones' controversy hasn't been all negative feedback though. Jace Bauserman with Grandviewoutdoors.com came to her defense:
Currently, Jones, 19, is being targeted by the anti-hunting crowd as being a ruthless killer and harming the ecosystem. The controversy started during the first week of June, when Jones started posting mobile uploads of her hunting adventures to Twitter and Facebook.
grandviewoutdoors.comAside from support from countless hunters, the Sportsman Channel will be airing a show in 2015 featuring Jones and her amazing hunting adventures. Stay tuned.
grandviewoutdoors.comAnd as for Jones, she wrote on her Facebook page:
"I just want to THANK all of my supporters for their continued encouragement and backing! I will continue to hunt and spread the knowledge of hunting and wildlife conservation."
facebook.com