Violent grizzly bear trophy hunting video is going viral (VIDEO)

A video depicting the violent, bloody shooting of a grizzly bear is going viral online thanks to the Wildlife Defence League.

They posted the graphic video on Facebook to draw attention to B.C.’s grizzly bear hunt, which they say 80 per cent of residents want banned.

The video shows the hunters shooting the bear several times, occasionally missing, but severely injuring the bear in the process. The snow the bear was on was stained with blood.

Tommy Knowles with the Wildlife Defence League told Vancity Buzz they found the video a year ago, but posted it recently to show that hunting isn’t always “one shot, one kill.”

“We have witness reports of seeing grizzly bears being killed in a manner like this and you can go onto YouTube and find other videos like this – not as gruesome as this, but there are plenty of videos where bears are shot four, five, six times before they’re actually killed” he said.

Knowles said he thinks we have a problem with grizzly bear trophy hunting in the province and that the government severely overestimates population numbers.

“Coastal First Nations have put a ban on grizzly bear hunting saying it’s unethical and completely unsustainable and it’s something that belongs in the past.”

“We’d like the B.C. government to listen to Coastal First Nations and we’d like to see them invest real time and real money into wildlife management and we’d like them to come out against trophy hunting,” said Knowles.

He added that they aren’t sure if this video was shot in B.C. or not, since the original owner made it private.

The Wildlife Defence League has set up an Indiegogo campaign to help in their fight against trophy hunting. Click here if you want to donate.

Disclaimer: The video below is very graphic in nature. View at your own discretion.