Under Armour sparks outrage after dropping a hunter whose husband speared a bear

Under Armour has ended its sponsorship of a female hunter after her husband fatally speared a bear, and now the couple's supporters are threatening to boycott Under Armour as a result.

The company dropped Sarah Bowmar, the wife and hunting partner of US hunter Josh Bowmar, in response to a video showing Mr. Bowmar killing a bear with a spear in Alberta, Canada, Reuters reports.

Many people were outraged by the video, which Ms. Bowmar filmed, saying it showed an inhumane way to kill a bear. The Alberta government responded by outlawing spear hunting, and it is now considering filing charges against Mr. Bowmar. 

After customers threatened to boycott the company, Under Armour bowed to the pressure and dropped Ms. Bowmar last week.

"The method used to harvest this animal was reckless and we do not condone it," Under Armour spokeswoman Danielle Daly told Reuters.

Now Under Armour's decision is sparking fresh outrage among the Bowmars' many supporters.

"After throwing the Bowmar under the bus I will not buy any Under Armour product again and will strongly encourage others not to purchase your products, unless you reinstate Sarah Bowmar as a sponsor," Phil Meyer wrote on the company's Facebook page. "For a company to stab hunters in the back after so many of us have used and endorsed your products is intolerable!"

"It will be interesting watching your whole hunting line of business go down the toilet," Stan Smyla wrote.

"I guess the liberals are in charge of UA now," wrote another Facebook user, and a fourth added: "Better just make a UA line that caters to skinny jeans and manbuns, cause that's all you will have at this rate."

A petition to reinstate Sarah Bowmar's sponsorship deal has reached 6,200 signatures as of Tuesday morning.

Under Armour did not respond to a request for comment.

Sarah Bowmar released the following statement to her more than 1 million followers on Instagram:

"I love and care about all of you and wanted to let you know that due to recent circumstances and media attention of a LEGAL hunt, @underarmour and @uahunt have terminated their relationship with us due to international social pressure from anti hunters. It really breaks my heart, we lived and breathed the brand for years and gave them everything that we had. We will never speak ill of the company. Just wanted to let everything know our current situation and how heartbroken we are when we did nothing wrong. Receiving that phone call was one of the hardest things I've ever went through. Don't be silent in this. If this bothers you- please reach out to UA and let them know."

On Twitter, she responded to critics, saying she and her husband eat bear meat and that they had "bear fajitas" after the hunt.

She also joked that at least she can still wear her Lululemon leggings.