Grinning Canadian TV presenter bags a huge mountain lion - but some animal rights activists are NOT happy

  • Steve Ecklund, from Alberta, Canada, killed the big cat in his home state
  • He posted pictures online of the kill as he and his friends posed for the camera
  • Cancer survivor Ecklund co-hosts a Canadian hunting show called The Edge
  • Critics have branded him 'vile' and 'heartless' after the pictures were shared 

By Gareth Davies For Mailonline

Published: 06:50 EST, 20 December 2017 | Updated: 08:00 EST, 20 December 2017

Steve Ecklund holds up the bloodied big cat

Steve Ecklund holds up the bloodied big cat

A TV presenter has been pictured holding up a big cat he killed on a hunt before posting a picture of its sliced organs on social media.

Steve Ecklund, from Alberta, Canada had killed the mountain lion in his home state on Sunday and is pictured grinning as its carcass is held to the camera.

The co-host of the Canadian hunting show, The EDGE, is well-known for his killing of rams, lions, black bears and lions in Canada and North America and regularly posts updates of himself and his wife, Alison Ecklund, in hunting gear.

Steve and Alison are both fiercely defended by an active pro-hunting community online, but in the UK, campaign group Hunt Saboteurs Association have called the sport 'morally reprehensible'.

On 'The EDGE's website, Steve is identified as a 'fair chase hunter' which means all hunting he participates in is purportedly ethical and all animals are free-ranging, so they aren't confined by gates or barriers.

In Alberta, Canada, hunters must hold a recreational hunting licence. 

The law states it is illegal to discharge a weapon at a big game animal while it is swimming, be accompanied by a dog while hunting big game or allow a dog to pursue big game during the winter season hunting season. A recent cancer survivor, the EDGE's website claim hunting was a motivation for Steve as he recovered.

In the images posted online, Steve poses alongside his friends and two beagles as the lion lies on its stomach with blood staining its fur. 

The pictures have whipped up debate online as some users claimed Steve is 'vile' while others congratulated him on the kill.

Ecklund, center, poses with two men who are holding beagles as they pose behind the slain cat

Ecklund, center, poses with two men who are holding beagles as they pose behind the slain cat

A beagle chained to a tree by its leash looks up at the Canadian TV presenter who is holding his kill

A beagle chained to a tree by its leash looks up at the Canadian TV presenter who is holding his kill

Steve Ecklund, from Alberta, Canada had killed the mountain lion in his home state on Sunday and is pictured grinning as its carcass is held to the camera

Steve Ecklund, from Alberta, Canada had killed the mountain lion in his home state on Sunday and is pictured grinning as its carcass is held to the camera

The co-host of the Canadian hunting show, The EDGE, is well-known for his controversial killing of rams, lions, black bears and lions in Canada and North America and regularly posts updates of himself and his wife, Alison Ecklund, in hunting gear

Animal rights group PETA have now stepped in and described Steve as 'a small person with deep-seated insecurities' after seeing the photographs.

A UK-based anti-hunting campaigner has also called Steve 'morally reprehensible' and termed the death of the mountain lion a 'barbaric act'.

Lee Moon, a spokesperson from campaign group Hunt Saboteurs, said: 'Whether legal or illegal, and whatever country it occurs in, hunting for sport is morally reprehensible and has no place in a so-called civilised society.

'Links between animal and human abuse are well documented and it's beyond our comprehension what makes people think this kind of barbaric act is deemed acceptable.

'When the authorities don't act it's no wonder that people take matters into their own hands and protect hunted animals themselves.'  

Jessica Garcia wrote: 'I love archery, I love nature and the beautiful creatures that inhabit it, and this makes me sick to my core. This is a shameful and disgusting act of violence by a blatantly deranged human.'

Nie Schweigan wrote: 'Those who find pleasure in sadistic behaviors such a murder will reap what they sow. The smile of pure joy holding an innocent dead body is purely psychotic.'

Sue Ward said: 'I just cannot believe how you people can enjoy killing these beautiful animals just for fun, that isn't sport. Join a firing range to see how talented you really are.

'These posts are just so sad I would like to think our grandchildren will still be able to enjoy nature unless it has been wiped out by greedy and cruel people.'

A supporter of Steve's commented on his post announcing the catch to defend him against the spouting criticism.

Chelsea Paige said: 'We need to consider the time and effort that is put into such a hunt.

'It takes work and this man has a celebratory smile on his face because instead of walking into a store and buying beef out of the fridge that had its throat slit in front of a hundred other cows, he had to stalk and hunt and work hard to fill his freezer and that is rewarding.

'He is not smiling because he is a sick psychotic individual or because he enjoys the fact that he just took life.'

The TV presenter and a hunting mate pose up next to a huge Muskox which can weigh almost half a ton

The TV presenter and a hunting mate pose up next to a huge Muskox which can weigh almost half a ton

Ecklund poses in a white UnderArmour coat behind a slain deer with huge antlers

Ecklund poses in a white UnderArmour coat behind a slain deer with huge antlers

A spokeman from PETA said: 'Only someone dead in heart and head could fail to see that mountain lions, wild boars, deer, and other animals are thinking, feeling individuals - not 'things' to blow away for amusement.

'Those animals whose lives aren't taken outright by hunters often endure slow, agonising deaths, leaving their offspring to starve, as they're unable to fend for themselves after their mothers have been killed by some human trying to compensate for feelings of inadequacy.

'All most of us see when we look at a photograph of a hunter who gunned down an animal for 'pleasure' is photographic evidence of a small person with deep-seated insecurities.'

Steve was contacted for comment but failed to respond.

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