The founder of the Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwich chain killed an elephant and an endangered leopard for sport and some trophy photos.
That may not have anything to do with the quality of the chain’s food, but it does indicate the ethics and quality of the man behind the sandwiches.
So these are two reasons to eat elsewhere:
One dead African elephant and one dead Delta leopard, hunted down and killed by Jimmy John Liautaud for sport and some trophy photos.
The fine print under the photo above says “Jimmy John Liautaud with 79lbs tusker”.
The fine print under the photo below says “Jimmy John Liataud with Delta leopard”.
Jimmy John, Big Game Hunter
Congratulations, Jimmy John. I’m sure all your franchise owners are happy to know how you spend the profits they earn for you.
Maybe customers will think twice about helping you make more money so you can pose with a big grin alongside the big game you shot and killed for fun, including endangered species like the leopard in this photo.
Jimmy John’s Credit Card Breach
These Big White Hunter photos are dated 2010, as is this article on the website Smile Politely.
Maybe Jimmy John has changed his ways since.
That would be good news for those of us who want to save the elephants, leopards and other endangered species, in Africa, India and wherever else they are hunted for sport.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a meat eater – my father was a butcher who co-owned a store in the Bronx, and my favorite meal is a good steak, medium rare. I love fish, too, and have gone fishing and ate what I caught.
So I’m not opposed to killing an animal for food.
But paying thousands of dollars for a safari to kill beautiful – even endangered – animals so you can have your photo taken with the dead body? Um – no.
Let’s also give a thumbs down to Johan Calitz Safaris and the nations of Bostwana, Mozambique and Tanzania which make a profit from these sport hunting safaris at the same time they are supposedly trying to save endangered big game from poachers.
Check out the Johan Calitz Safaris website, with photos of other big game hunters in addition to Jimmy John Liautaud posing alongside their kills – mostly elephants, but also Cape buffalo and a leopard.
It’s enough to make you upchuck your gourmet sandwich. It’s enough to support sanctions against countries and tour operators which sell the sport killing of endangered animals to millionaire trophy hunters like Jimmy John, the gourmet sandwich guy.
Consumers boycott unethical businesses
Here’s more food for thought (pun intended) – an article in the Chicago Tribune about consumer boycotts of businesses like Jimmy John’s whose business or personal ethics we just don’t like.
Copyright (C) Evelyn Kanter
ecoXplorer Evelyn Kanter is a journalist with 20+ years of experience as a newspaper and magazine writer, radio & TV news producer & reporter, and guidebook and smartphone app author – all focusing on travel, automotive, the environment and your rights as a consumer.
Contact me at evelyn@ecoxplorer.com.
His sandwiches suck. Maybe I’m spoiled, living in South Jersey and eat real sandwiches on amazing bread. Then I see the actual owner of this place 😆 He looks like Baby Huey. Then I see Guy Fieri promoting this douchebag, this fat fck who kills beautiful animals for fun. How can he even hunt, being that obese?? I don’t care how wealthy he is, he can’t get fckd. Loser. 😆
No longer the case, he sold the chain to Inspire Brands and besides, he had stopped hunting animals anyway, prior to selling it. Those hunting pictures are about 15 years old. People make mistakes, he admitted he did despite the fact all the animals that were hunted were consumed, and he no longer hunts. Perhaps this is something that was passed down to him by other family members, but he and the chain have both donated to veterans and other worthy causes, can’t anyone see past something someone did over a decade ago?
He is a pig! It looks like he eats every animal he slaughters.
JJ’s sandwiches (sic) suck – little meat, all bread and cheap shit filler – and he looks like an overweight, flabby momma’s boy using a weapon, probably held by someone else with actual muscle tone, to get his trophy. Only reason JJ had any success is because he was friends with Michael Symon.
Yes, it’s been awhile, but I just despise this man and his la Knox ethics. Have NEVER eaten there, NEVER WILL. You SUCK, JIMMY JOHN TORTURIST.
Jimmy John’s subs are pretty bad anyway. Too much bread and way too little meat. Jersey Mike’s is the way to go. Boycotting for being a killer of beautiful animals is enough of a reason not to eat there but the subs not being any good is another
My husband saw this story on Facebook, we did research and shared it with our kids. Two of them said if there’s a petition they’ll be glad to sign. All of them said they won’t be eating at Jimmy John’s anymore. Three grown adults grandkids agreed.. that makes nine of us and I’m putting it in an email and already put it on Facebook. No use for so-called Trophy Hunters especially if they’re hunting endangered species. Hunting for need is different.
I’ve never ate at Jimmy John’s and after seeing this article about him killing off endangered species…..FORGET IT!!!!! I will never support a bastard who enjoys killing endangered species for sport in support of his food chain restaurant. SHAME ON YOU JIMMY JOHN!!!! Well you know what they say……PAYBACK IS A BITCH!!!!!!
I used to LOVE Jimmy John’s sandwiches. But I totally lost my appetite for them after seeing some of his sick pictures posing with his trophies.
How can one call it sport when you’ve got a gun that can shoot something from 1/2 mile away and a scope that can see just as far. It’s silly to imagine this a sport.
I’d have lots more respect for him if he stalked and took his kill with his bare hands, and only because of need. People with too much money and no exhibition of character are a danger to all life.
I haven’t set foot in a Jimmy John’s since this news first came out and never will again. I just can’t support someone who can kill am animal for sport. It sickens me!!!
Never ate at Jimmy John’s and never will ! what a disgusting pig!
I work at a large prominent hospital with over 16000 employees. We opened a house account with Jimmy Johns and we (did) spend thousands with them. No more. I will avoid at all costs from now going forward.
Makes me absolutely sick to think that I assisted in funding this man or his business in any way. I do not care who benefits from eating the meat of these animals after they are killed if that is a true statement. It’s abhorrent.
I will never eat at JJohns again! I had heard this rumor but now I know for sure. Shame on him! Unethical POS!
I went in and got a refund crummy place. Now that I saw this I shared it with all my freinds. What a miserable guy. He will pay dearly.
We are working hard to save the rainforests and other natural environments, not to mention various ecosystems in order to preserve “our” ecosystem/quality of life. Don’t they realize that without preserving the lives of endangered species, our whole ecosystem will change and possibly erode due to the extinction of important animals that greatly contribute to the current cycle of life that sustains all the ecosystems, including ours?
You couldn’t give me his sandwiches free for a lifetime!!!!!
It is really to bad so many compassionate people don’t think beyond the photo. I have been to Africa and with the people who benefit from this sport. First, the game animals are managed much in the same way our own states manage game here in the US. The money these African hunters pay goes to help feed the starving people. Much of the meat from these hunts is eaten by the locals. The money helps to protect these beautiful animals from poachers and extinction.
Yes, agreed that strictly controlled hunting for “farmed” animals benefits the local economy in all the ways you mention. But that is for non-endangered animals such as eland, oryx and other abundant species. Endangered species are a whole different animal (pardon the pun).
It is beyond disgraceful to kill endangered elephants and leopards for sport – like beautiful “tusker” and the leopard shot by Jimmy John for fun and bragging rights.
Do you really favor sport hunting of endangered species?
Rise of the White Rhinos Nearly extinct in South Africa a century ago, southern white rhinos rebounded thanks to conservation efforts, limited trophy hunting, and the harvesting of horns, which regrow. But with a recent surge in poaching, those rebounding numbers are leveling off. White rhinos are considered “near threatened”—they could face a high risk of extinction if conservation came to a halt.
Monica Serrano, NGM Staff; Meg Roosevelt
Michael Knight and Richard Emslie, IUCN SSC African Rhino Specialist Group
Thank you for your important and valuable comment.
What an oxymoron!! By paying money to kill endangered animals, they are somehow protecting them from extinction?? It’s just an excuse used by cold, heartless “animals” to justify the slaughter of our most precious endangered animals.
I don’t think God ever intended for His creations to be hunted and slaughtered for sport. Seriously!! Maybe their meat is eaten by the people there, but more often than not the people who kill them don’t care what happens to the meat that comes from their annihilation, they only want their stupid trophy.
The money they pay to hunt these animals could instead be donated to the organizations that also help these people without the sacrifice of the worlds majestic creatures.
Couldn’t agree more!
This is absolutely horrifying!