After successfully impaling the bear, Bowmar exclaims to the camera, “I can’t believe that that just happened”.
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Bowmar turns to the camera and raises his arms in celebration after his spear hits the black bear.
“It’s the same rules as if I went out with a gun, it’s just a little more hard”, he said.
“That was a 12 to 15 yard spear throw, on the ground, no blind, no back-up”.
The Mirror headline was: “Hunters in Sick New Low as Black Bear is Stabbed with 7 ft Spear then Left to Die”.
A man identified as John on the video reasons that because of evidence of rigor mortis, “this bear died within seconds”.
Requests for an interview with Bowmar have also gone answered.
Todd Zimmerling, president of the Alberta Conservation Association, says he can see how the images in the video, which he has not seen himself, would be upsetting to some.
He said the 2016 regulations that came into force in July should prevent spear hunting by applying strict definitions as to what constitutes a weapon.
“The common weaponry – firearms or bow – can effect a speedy death so they are not suffering unduly by being wounded”.
‘Animals are not trophies, and bears and other awesome creatures around the world need us to channel our collective disgust at this and say no more to this selfish brutality’.
The online outrage and death threats mirrored that of when American dentist Walter Palmer, shot and killed Cecil the Lion in July, 2015.
“Trust me, no one cares more about these animals than us hunters, especially me”, he said, adding he’d trained to spear hunt for months beforehand.
Many viewers of the video were not as happy as Bowmar, however.
Another wrote: “Surely there are laws against this kind of hunting?” I am going to make it my mission….to hunt you down… and then I’m going to do to you… what you did to that bear… then I’m going to take your head… and it will be kept as my (expletive) trophy. “It is shocking to see the delight of this hunter in what he has done, his thrill utterly appalling to the majority of people, and even fellow hunters are distancing themselves from this incident”. “I’m not sure where you’re getting this statement from, but it couldn’t be further from the truth”.
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Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, said in a blog post that Bowmar, 26, of Columbus, Ohio, baited the female bear and killed it during the spring when mothers are nursing dependent cubs.
