Farmer Wants a Wife star Matt Trewin slammed for running over a deer with his car in 'cruel' Snapchat video
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A reality television star is coming under fire after footage emerged of him hitting and killing a deer with his car while out hunting.
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Hide AdMatt Trewin, who made his name on the 11th season of Australian dating show Farmer Wants a Wife, posted the 'sick' video on his personal Snapchat account and was outed by someone believed to follow him.
Sharing the harrowing pictures on social media, the user wrote to the SoDramatic! podcast: "Matt Trewin thought it would be funny to put up a Snapchat story of him literally running over a sambar deer" before labelling the act as "f***ing cruel".
In the video, which has been viewed by SoDramatic!, Matt can be seen swerving across the road in an attempt to hit the animal before eventually succeeding and killing it.
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Hide AdEven though deer hunting is legal in the Australian state of Victoria, where the 28-year-old lives, you are legally required to hold a licence and you can only hunt in specific locations and at certain times of the year. For example, deer hunting is not permitted at night, yet the clip shows Matt Trewin chasing the deer down at around 9.30pm.
When it comes to hunting in Australia, there are certain methods and firearms that hunters are allowed to use to kill an animal. According to the country's Wildlife Game Regulations Act and the Wildlife Act, terrorising and killing animals using a vehicle is not considered legal.
The code notes that "the improper and illegal use of vehicles is considered to be highly unethical" and that hunters must "avoid mechanised pursuit in any form as a true hunter makes every effort to ensure the contest is as fair as possible".
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Hide AdLaws do state, however, that if a deer is causing damage that they can be "controlled using methods that aren’t permitted for recreational hunting, under strict controls" but the animal should not be destroyed "without authorisation".
After SoDramatic! reached out to Matt Trewin, the reality star and farmer said he "can't help that there are deer on the road, I have a game hunting licence and I also have permits to remove them from private property". When he was alerted that cars are not considered an ethical means of killing an animal or that it should not have transpired at nighttime, Matt refused to respond and instead reacted with a laughing emoji.
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