Kendall Jones, a 19-year-old cheerleader for Texas Tech University, is under fire for hunting endangered animals and posting photos of her kill on her Facebook page.
Jones, who shot her first animal at the age of 13, has traveled to South Africa multiple times to hunt exotic animals. Her Facebook page includes photos of her posing over the dead animals, which is what started the online controversy.
Over 134,000 people have signed a petition asking Facebook to remove the page that “promotes animal cruelty.” In addition, over 48,000 people have signed a petition to stop Jones from hunting in Africa. According to a Facebook spokesperson, the company has removed some, but not all, of Jones’s photos for violating Facebook’s policies.
“We remove reported content that promotes poaching of endangered species, the sale of animals for organized fight or content that includes extreme acts of animal abuse,” the company said in a statement.
Jones, who is circulating a #SupportKendall hashtag on her page, is arguing that her hunting benefits conservation. She says that she will “continue to hunt and and spread the knowledge of hunting and wildlife conservation.” However, her critics beg to differ.
“The people who defend this practice either kid themselves … that people like this Kendall Jones are doing good or they are just plain ignorant or amoral,” wrote Facebook user David Jack on Jones’ page. “This isn’t conservation. Conservation is working towards finding a way to coexist with nature.”