Russian men who gleefully tortured and killed wild bear with trucks spark outrage after uploading footage

The group will now be investigated by Russian authorities, who have opened a criminal case

Wednesday 28 December 2016 11:46

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Russian men film torturing and killing of bear

Russian investigators said on Wednesday they had opened a criminal case into a group of men who filmed themselves crushing a bear to death by repeatedly driving over it in off-road vehicles in the Siberian tundra.

A video posted on YouTube on Monday, apparently shot on a mobile phone, showed men in two heavy trucks shouting “Crush him! Crush him!” and poking the bear as it struggled to rise from the snow.

The video, which has since been removed from the video site, was widely circulated by Russian media and caused a public outcry.

The most controversial animal killings

Show all 6

1/6The most controversial animal killings

Harambe, a 17-year-old gorilla was shot and killed by a Cincinnati Zoo worker after a three-year-old boy climbed into a gorilla enclosure and was grabbed and dragged by Harambe. The incident was recorded on video and received broad international coverage and commentary, including controversy over the choice to kill Harambe. A number of primatologists and conservationists wrote later that the zoo had no other choice under the circumstances, and that it highlighted the danger of zoo animals in close proximity to humans and the need for better standards of care

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden

Walter James Palmer has been named by Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force as the shooter of Cecil, a 13-year-old prized lion. He is now wanted by Zimbabwe officials on poaching charges. The lion was protected and the subject of a decade long study by the Wildlife Unit of Oxford University in the UK. He was outfitted with a GPS collar and was killed in Hwange National Park. The Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority and the Safari Operators Association said that two men were charged with poaching in connection to Mr Palmer

Kendall Jones, a 19-year-old Texas Tech university student, has provoked worldwide fury after posting pictures of herself smiling next to animals she hunted, including a lion, rhinoceros, antelope, leopard, elephant, zebra and hippopotamus

Rebecca Francis, a huntress who has killed dozens of wild animals has been sent death wishes by furious social media users after a picture showing her lying down next to a dead giraffe was circulated. Rebecca Francis has a website and Facebook page dedicated to the animals she has killed in hunts across Africa and America. Francis, a prolific hunter who has also co-hosted the television show Eye of the Hunter, regularly posts pictures of herself posing next to dead bears, giraffes, buffaloes and zebras, among other animals. She uses a bow and arrow to kill her prey

Copenhagen Zoo made the controversial decision to euthanise a healthy giraffe named Marius, which was later dissected and fed to lions as visitors watched. The slaughter sparked a furious backlash from social media users and zoo staff have received death threats by phone and email. Soon after the incident, Copenhagen Zoo faced an international outcry once again after four healthy lions were put down

A Switzerland zoo faced heavy criticism from animal rights groups, after keepers put down a healthy brown bear cub to spare it from being bullied by its dominant male father. The 360 kg male bear Misha had already killed one of his 11-week old cubs in public and was bullying the second, staff at the zoo said, because he was jealous of the attention the cubs were receiving from their mother, Masha. Both adult brown bears had been donated to Bern’s Dählhölzli zoo in 2009. Campaigners condemned staff there for not separating the cubs, who are being referred to as Baby Bear Two and Baby Bear Three, and their mother from Misha after their birth in January

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Investigators in the Sakha Republic, in northeast Siberia, said they had opened a criminal investigation into the incident.

They said they were looking at whether the men were guilty of causing the death of an animal by treating it sadistically, a charge that carries a maximum jail term of two years.

The men caught on camera were shift workers driving vehicles that belonged to a exploration company prospecting for resources in the mineral-rich region, investigators said.

“There should be real jail time for this sort of crime!” Sergei Donskoi, Russia's minister for natural resources and the environment, wrote on social media.

“We'll make sure these villains get the most serious punishment.”

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