Warning: Video is graphic and shows wildlife being killed. Humane Society officials say they have edited out some video which was deemed too disturbing.
A year after an Alaskan father and his son were caught on camera killing a black bear sow and her two cubs, officials have made the video public.
The Humane Society of the United States used a public records request to obtain the graphic video, which was recorded on Esther Island on April 14, 2018. Andrew Renner, and his son Owen, were out skiing that day when they approached the bears’ den, Alaska Wildlife Troopers said in a statement last August.
Owen Renner fired twice at the adult bear while it slept in its den, then Andrew Renner killed the “shrieking” cubs and left their bodies outside the den, troopers said. The Renners butchered the adult bear, and returned two days later to dispose of the cubs’ bodies and collect shell casings, according to the troopers.
What the two men didn’t know was that their actions were caught on tape. The bears were being monitored by a motion-activated camera as part of a study by the U.S. Forest Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Andrew Renner was captured on the video saying, “It doesn’t matter. Bear down,” court records show.
The father and son removed the adult bear’s tracking collar, according to a statement provided by troopers.
Owen Renner was then captured saying, “They’ll never be able to link it to us,” court records show.
Two weeks after the killings, troopers reported Andrew Renner took the bear’s skin and collar to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He said he hadn’t seen the cubs and didn’t know it was a nursing bear.
In Alaska, it is illegal to shoot black bears with cubs.
Andrew Renner, 41, was sentenced to three months in jail and a $9,000 fine. He was also ordered to forfeit his boat, truck, firearms and poaching gear and lost his hunting privileges for 10 years, Alaska officials said in a news release.
Owen Renner, 18, was sentenced to probation and community service and will be required to take a hunters’ safety course, according to the statement obtained by CNN. His hunting license was also suspended for two years.
Alaska officials said both men will have to pay $1,800 restitution, the amount set by statute for killing black bears.
“The defendant, and anyone else that would pursue game in our state, should be on notice that killing a sow with cubs and then poaching the cubs to cover it up, will result in a significant jail term and loss of hunting privileges,” Assistant Attorney General Aaron Peterson said in a statement. “People must know that poachers will be required to pay large fines and restitution for the illegal killing of the animals and that the vehicles, boat, planes, and instrumentalities used in wildlife crimes will be forfeited.”
CNN contributed to this report.
