A video recording a bear being killed by hunters – who, by the way, were hiding safe and ‘out of sight’ while ‘hunting’ it – went viral last week. In it, the Canadian hunters spot a bear on a mountainside and shoot it.
As the animal attempts to flee, they maim it several more times. Then, the wounded animal stumbles down the rocky mountain covered in blood. All the while, the hunters joke about how the bear’s movement towards them means they will have to carry the carcass for a shorter distance.
The video was posted by The Wildlife Defense League, a British Columbia wildlife activist group, on their Facebook page with the intent of showing people what hunting for “conservation” really looks like.
As was inevitable, conversation was sparked by the video which has so far received more than 2.5 million views.
“Three hundred grizzly bears are shot every year, most of them for fun like in that video, and I don’t believe that’s what British Columbians are about,” said Joe Foy, the national campaign director for The Wilderness Committee, a Canadian non-profit animals’ protection group.
While thousands who have commented on the video and shared it agree with the director’s sentiments, not everyone feels the same. The provincial ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations acknowledges that the disturbing footage does not show a sign of responsible hunting (if there’s even such a thing) but claims hunting is necessary and legal.
“The government allows a grizzly bear harvest based on the best available science,” said Minister Steve Thomson to a local news station. “The principles behind our decisions are: a reliable population estimate; estimates of sustainable human-caused mortality rates; and deliberately conservative mortality limits.”
One would suspect that anyone who watches the video would, in a very short period of time, form their own conclusions on the ‘sport’ of trophy hunting and deem it a very cruel and unnecessary practice.
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