A B.C. animal rights group has released shocking footage of a dying grizzly bear to put government-sanctioned trophy hunting in the spotlight.

The Wildlife Defence League’s video shows hunters firing several shots at the bear as it tries to run away.

Eventually the animal dies and its body can be seen sliding down a mountainside, leaving a trail of blood in the snow as the hunters joke about the kill.

“Well it’s less places we got to carry him,” one hunter says while the others laugh.

It’s unclear where or when the disturbing video was filmed.

The Wildlife Defence League posted it on Facebook Monday to drum up fundraising support for its fall campaign, which will involve members spending eight weeks in B.C.’s backcountry working to stop trophy hunting.

The Wilderness Committee, a non-profit animals’ protection group, said though the video is difficult to watch, it shines an important light on the issue of trophy hunting.

“Our provincial government sanctions that,” said Joe Foy, national campaign director for the group. “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.”

The footage had already been viewed more than a million times by Wednesday evening.

B.C.’s Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations told CTV News the government takes careful consideration when licensing grizzly hunters.

“The government allows a grizzly bear harvest based on the best available science,” Minister Steve Thomson said in a statement.

“The principles behind our decisions are: a reliable population estimate; estimates of sustainable human-caused mortality rates; and deliberately conservative mortality limits.

The behaviour depicted in the Wildlife Defence League’s video does not reflect the values and practices of responsible hunting, Thomson added.

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