Hunter Receives Vicious Death Threats After Posing With Huge Bear He Killed

A former Canadian pro-hockey player has come under fire after tweeting about hunting and killing a grizzly bear earlier this week.

Posting on Twitter a photo of himself posing with the bear, 34-year-old Tim Brent said they'd 'put an awesome stalk on him'.

Explaining that the animal had spotted them at about 75 yards, he added: "Instead of taking off he turned and came right at us. It was very easy to tell this boar owned the valley we were hunting in and wasn't scared of anything!"

Brent, who used to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs in Canada's National Hockey League, has since also posted photos of 'his' Yukon moose, which he said 'absolutely humbled' him.

Brent has since received backlash for both his hunting habits and openly boasting about them. His tweet where he poses with the dead bear has racked up 20,000 comments.

It's even caught the attention of several big names, including comedian Ricky Gervais, who regularly speaks out about animal rights. He tweeted: "I bet killing this beautiful bear put 'an awesome stalk' on Tim too."

Sherlock actor Amanda Abbington also condemned Brent's actions - and was clearly not holding back, writing: "You are a c***. A stupid, inbred, unfeeling piece of s*** c***."

Others said the photo and caption were 'disgusting', 'horrible' and 'nauseating'.

Brent later tweeted to say he'd even received death threats, writing: "These are the types of messages I am getting on twitter in response to my moose and bear hunts.

"I would love to know what constitutes a threat or abuse for Twitter? This is what we are up against as Hunters."