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A hunter dad and his son were sentenced to jail time after they slaughtered a mother black bear and her two cubs in their den and were caught on a research camera.

Andrew Renner, 41, and his son Owen, 18, skiied into the remote bear's den on Esther Island in Prince William Sound in the Gulf of Alaska.

The teenager shot and killed the mother bear in front of her two cubs.

And his father then turned the rifle on the crying newborns.

The pair did not realize a motion-activated camera was set up outside the den as a part of a study by the US Forest Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the entire attack was filmed.

(Image: Facebook)

The two pleaded guilty to multiple misdemeanor counts including killing the bears, which is illegal.

Andrew was sentenced to three months in jail and Owen was sentenced to 30 days of suspended time on Tuesday for the April 14, 2018 killings.

Assistant attorney general Aaron Peterson said: "My office believes and argued for active jail time in this case because of the egregious nature of it, and the necessity of letting the public know Alaska will not tolerate poaching.

"What we saw is that there were two bear cubs that were completely defenseless and were shot at point-blank range,' he added, according to Anchorage Daily News.

Andrew was also ordered to pay a $9,000 fine, forfeit his pickup truck, boat, trailer, weapons, skis and cell phones and had his hunting license revoked for 10 years.

His son Owen had his hunting license suspended for two years and he was ordered to take a hunters' safety course.

(Image: Getty Images/Robert Harding Worl)

Authorities say Renner also falsified documentation about murdering the bear and failed to note how many bears they had illegally killed.

In the research video the men are seen approaching the den and spotting the female bear, according to court documents.

Owen is seen firing at least two shots, causing the cubs to shriek.

After the female bear was killed the two men realized the sounds were coming from the cubs, not the dead mother, leading Andrew Renner to shoot them too.

Andrew is heard saying: "It doesn't matter. Bear down."

(Image: Getty Images/National Geographic)

But then the two notice the mother bear sporting a Fish and Game collar on her neck, meaning the creature is being monitored by Alaska's wildlife officials.

Then they dragged the bear's carcass into the snow outside the den and in a second video clip Owen says the collar was removed, adding 'they'll never be able to link it to us'.

Then they butchered the mother bear and placed the remains in game bags and skied away.

Video also showed the pair returning two days later to retrieve the collar, shell casings, and place the cubs' bodies in a bag then skiing away.

Andrew said he realized only after the shooting that the creature was a nursing bear and claimed he didn't see any cubs.