Country singing sensation Troy Gentry of Montgomery/Gentry is under fire for just-released video of him killing a tame bear while on a wildlife preserve. INSIDE EDITION has the details.
Country music superstar Troy Gentry, half of the Montgomery/Gentry duo, is one of the biggest names in country music. He is also an avid hunter with a macho image.
But a shocking just-released video is causing uproar among his fans. It shows the singer hunting down a 600-pound black bear with a bow and arrow.
But this was no wild bear. His name was Cubby and he was raised in captivity on a wildlife reserve. He was so tame he would literally eat snacks out of your hand.
And this so-called hunt actually took place inside Cubby's pen, surrounded by an electrified fence.
When the 44-year-old Gentry shot down Cubby, he turned to the camera and said this:
"We'll let him lay there a little bit, make sure he bleeds out good. It has been a long hunt. Had two beautiful days."
But the whole process didn't take two days. It took just two hours.
"Wow! What an experience. This is awesome," said Gentry on the video tape.
Gentry was fined $15,000 and banned from hunting in the state of Minnesota for five years for falsely claiming the bear was killed in the wild.
"This has been a humbling experience for me and one which I deeply regret," he told his fans at the time.
The fine was imposed in 2006, but the video of the so-called "hunt" was just released by the animal rights group S.H.A.R.K., and it is reigniting the scandal.
"Troy Gentry killed a tame captive bear inside an enclosure, then tried to make this look like it was a fair chase out in the wild, when in reality, they killed him in a very cowardly manner," said Mike Kobliska of S.H.A.R.K.
Gentry paid the wildlife refuge owner $4,650 for the chance to kill Cubby. Reports say old Cubby needed dental work the owner didn't want to pay for.
