NBC Sports cancels NRA hunting show

From ANIMAL PEOPLE,  September 2013: (Actually published on October 8,  2013)

NEW YORK CITY––The NBC Sports Network on October 30,  2013 cancelled Under Wild Skies,  a hunting show sponsored by the National Rifle Association,  hosted by longtime NRA lobbyist Tony Makris. A week earlier the show featured Makris shooting an elephant in Botswana twice in the face,  then killing the elephant with a third shot after a brief pursuit.  The show aired two weeks after Botswana made recreational hunting illegal. “Petitions calling for the network to cancel the show reached tens of thousands of signatures,  with one at Causes.com approaching 100,000,”  wrote Nick Wing for The Huffington Post. Defending shooting the elephant on the NRA News show Cam & Company,  Makris accused people who oppose elephant hunting but accept hunting other species of practicing “animal racism.”  Added Makris of people who say elephants should not be hunted because of their size,  scarcity,  or intelligence,  “Hitler would have said the same thing.” “Under Wild Skies will no longer air on the NBC Sports Sports Network due to the program’s close association with its host,  whose recent comments comparing his critics to Hitler are outrageous and unacceptable,” NBC said in a prepared statement.