Warning: Graphic Content. A "super happy" American tourist killed a 9-foot-tall brown bear in Kamchatka, disregarding the ongoing East-West tensions caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Trophy-hunting tourists are flying into Russia for VIP trips despite Putin’s war on Ukraine, with US and European visitors killing huge brown bears.
Despite most countries advising against all travel to the state which declared war with its smaller neighbour, multiple Russian operators are welcoming Western hunters to shoot ‘trophy’ wild animals on trips which cost tens of thousands of pounds. In recent weeks, a US tourist shot a 9ft tall brown bear in Kamchatka.
He was reported to be “super happy” with the kill after ignoring the east-west tensions over the war and travelling to eastern Russia, said VIP tourism company ProfiHunt. Two dozen hunters killed 33 brown bears in the season between mid-April and the end of May this year, the operator revealed.
Several companies, one called Kamchatka Safari, offer archery hunting of brown bears in the same remote region. Distressing footage shows a bear in snow being shot with a bow and arrow, slowly dying from the fatal wound. The company boasts its VIP tourist for this visit was Marco, from Italy, on a first-time hunting trip to Russia.
The brown bears are killed by trophy hunters ( Image: Profihunt/e2w)
“I’m very excited - this is my first bear,” said the tourist. “I think it’s the skill of the team which accompanied me to the [scene of the kill] - and also luck.” Other American hunters are travelling to the world ’s coldest region - Yakutia, in Siberia - in search of Kharaulakh snow sheep.
“With no exaggeration, we can say this is the only sheep that inhabits the Polar region that makes it a unique and desirable trophy,” reported ProfiHunt. “Among the first international hunters to get this sheep were Renee Snider and Lee Friend, both hunters from the US. Lady Luck kissed him before the trip. It took him only three days, not counting the transfers, to get all three trophies of the highest quality."
A Belgian hunter and prominent taxidermy expert Jean-Pierre Gérard pictured in Russia ( Image: BookYourHunt/e2w)
An earlier hunt in 2023 - also during the war in Ukraine - saw a Belgian hunter named Jean-Pierre Gérard rate his trip with US-based online platform BookYourHunt ten out of ten. “It’s the first time I’m hunting Siberian Roe buck,” he said. “And everything is perfect.” Two US hunters - a father and son - were sentenced to ten days in jail in Kamchatka this year for borrowing Russian firearms to hunt, which is seen as a crime. They each shot a brown bear.
"I was a little concerned about the risks of traveling to Russia, but we heard several stories of hunters who had done so recently without issue, so we decided to go ahead with the plan,” said the son. The pair were quizzed in detail about their contacts with their Russian hunting guides, and it appeared the police or security services were weighing whether to hold them for longer. The father and son were released and flew home via Moscow.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
