Should Kendall Jones, The 19-Year-Old Big Game Hunter From Texas, Be Banned From Facebook?

Kendall Jones is a 19-year-old cheerleader from Cleburne, Texas who has stirred up quite a bit of controversy with posts to her Facebook page. Normally, 19-year-old cheerleaders would be posting pictures from their competitions or times hanging out with their girlfriends.

But what Kendall seems to take pride in the most is her big game hunting skills. Her passion started when she was just 13 years old and has recently caused quite an uproar across the internet. Mostly, this controversy is on Facebook where she proudly posts pictures of herself posing next to dead or tranquilized animals.

Some of the animals she has reportedly killed include lions, antelope, leopards, hippos and zebras. E! Online reports that the photos are so disturbing that they’ve prompted a petition to circulate on Facebook to ban her page. More than 40,000 people have signed the petition to date but Kendall Jones doesn’t seem to be fazed:

Kendall’s photos have been shared several times, mostly by concerned animal rights and activist groups and she reportedly is receiving death threats sent to her Facebook account. In response, Kendall posted the following update:

“While all of the ANTI Hunters were hiding behind a computer writing repulsive comments and issuing death threats to me, well I was out doing a White Rhino Green Hunt.”

According to the New York Post, she insists that her involvement in big game hunting is how she is doing her part for animal conservation, and she is not malicious and has no ill-intent. Kendall says that she hopes to host a TV show that will showcase the benefits of her practice and has several camera crews following her on her hunts.

This news has further sparked outrage and several Facebook users opposed to her page have taken to the task of calling her out. On a comment thread linked to a photo of Kendall posing with a hunted lion, visitors to her page posted the following:

“How could anyone take the life of such a beautiful animal and SMILE?? I just don’t get it, it’s sick!”

Another user posted that “Trophy hunting majestic and rare animals so you can get paid by the people who sponsor you is sick.”

Yet, Kendall seems almost defiant about her purpose:

‘All the anti-hunters posting negative comments and sharing my photos on their page has helped me get over 600 likes in the past 48 hours.”

What do you think? Should Facebook ban Kendall Jones profile on the grounds that the images promote cruelty to animals?

[Image credit: Kendall Jones Facebook page]