Graphic grizzly hunt video released ahead of B.C. fall hunt

A graphic video of hunters shooting a grizzly bear has gone viral on the cusp of the opening of British Columbia’s fall hunt.

The video posted by the Wildlife Defence Fund on its Facebook page has been viewed more than 1.6 million times.

In it, a grizzly bear is seen on a mountainside before being shot several times as it tries to flee.

The video shows the bear tumbling down the mountainside, blood staining the snow in his wake. The hunters joke that it means they will have less distance to carry the carcass.

“You hammered him, like, three times solid,” says one of the hunters.

The undated video was released as part of the group’s annual fundraising campaign. Campaign director Tommy Knowles was not immediately available for an interview.

A group member told Yahoo News Canada that the video was taken from YouTube.

“We believe the video was filmed within the last two years,” the group says in an email. “We don’t know where it was shot, who was in the video or who filmed it as it was made private by the YouTube user.

“We can’t confirm whether it was in British Columbia or not.”

But the video is accompanied by an introduction calling the B.C. grizzly bear hunt “horrific.”

It says 80 per cent of B.C. residents support banning the hunt, which is open in the spring and fall.

“The B.C. government ignores the scientific, economic, environmental and ethical arguments in support of such a ban,” the group says before directing viewers to a donations page.

The video has been shared by more than 31,000 Facebook users and prompted nearly 8,000 comments online – most of them appearing to assume the hunt took place in B.C.

“The excitement in the hunter’s voices is nothing short of utter perversion,” wrote Ryan M. Simmons. “Sitting on a hilltop a quarter mile away shooting at something that cannot defend itself — and just minding its own business — is a coward’s game.”

“I can understand food hunting, it’s been the privilege of the indigenous people in Canada to feed their families. This is perverted, the way these two acted in this video it may as well been a person they murdered,” echoed Mike J. Malboeuf: “That poor animal suffered needlessly….”

Though the overwhelming majority of commenters were outraged, some defended hunting in general.

“I am in no way supporting hunting for sport but to say that nothing should be hunted. I hunt for my family and eat whatever I kill spare nothing,” wrote Ryan Crowder.

“Someone who buys beef from a store thinks that’s a more humane way to be raised and die, raised in a cage until you’re the ideal size then herded and killed. No sport hunting I agree, but let’s not pool responsible and caring hunters who actually give a lot more back into conservation of our wildlife than the average person into the mix.”

Others condemned the hunter, who required several shots as the bear fled to kill the animal, and even called for him to be named, as was the case with the American dentist who shot Cecil, the iconic lion of Zimbabwe. The dentist received death threats and had protesters gathered outside his Minneapolis office in July.

A petition posted on Change.org several years ago calling for a ban on the grizzly bear trophy hunt has drawn nearly 32,000 supporters. Last month, Air Canada and WestJet banned the transportation of big game trophies from Africa following the outcry over Cecil. But their bans do not cover Canadian animal trophies.

In an emailed statement to Yahoo Canada News, B.C. Natural Resources Minister Steve Thomson says the grizzly bear harvest is based on the best available science, including a reliable population estimate, estimates of sustainable human-caused mortality rates and “deliberately conservative” mortality limits.

“With regard to the video, I am concerned with what I see and this does not reflect the values and practices of responsible hunting,” Thomson wrote.

For 2015, 3,469 tags were issued but the department says many more tags are issued than bears are harvested because not every hunt is successful. Last year, for example, 3,067 tags were issued but just 267 bears were harvested.

B.C., Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut all allow trophy hunting of grizzly bears. In the United States, only Alaska allows grizzlies to be hunted, as they are listed as endangered in the lower 48 states.

The Coastal First Nations, a coalition of nine aboriginal groups located along the central and northern B.C. coast, have declared a ban on the grizzly bear hunt in their territories, which include the Great Bear Rainforest.

It has also initiated a controversial wolf hunt that drew the attention of pop star Miley Cyrus earlier this week. Cyrus urged her Instagram followers to sign a petition calling for an end to that hunt.