An Alaska man and his son have been sentenced to jail time after they slaughtered a mother black bear and her two cubs in their den in a vicious act unknowingly caught on a research camera.

Andrew Renner, 41, was sentenced to three months in jail and his son Owen Renner, 18, was sentenced to 30 days of suspended time on Tuesday for the April 14, 2018 killings.

The father and son had skied to the remote bear's den on Esther Island in Prince William Sound in the Gulf of Alaska when they attacked the mother bear in front of her two cubs.

Then the father turned his rifle on the crying newborns.

Andrew Renner, 41, (left) was sentenced to three months in jail and his son Owen Renner, 18, (right( was sentenced to 30 days of suspended time on Tuesday for killing a mother bear and her two cubs in April 2018

On April 14, 2018 the hunting father and son skied to a bear den on Esther Island in Prince William Sound in the Gulf of Alaska where they killed the mother bear and her two cubs (stock image above)

They didn't realize that a motion-activated camera was set up outside the den as a part of a study by the U.S. Forest Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the entire attack was filmed.

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

'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,' assistant attorney general Aaron Peterson said on Wednesday, noting that jail time is rare for wildlife cases.

'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.

In addition to jail time Andrew was ordered to pay a $9,000 fine, forfeit his pickup truck, boat, trailer, weapons, skies 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.

This image shows Andrew Renner posting with a rifle and a killed moose

This social media photo shows a young Owen Renner perching on top of a slain moose

Authorities say Renner also falsified documentation about murdering the bear when it was really his son who opened fire. He also failed to note how many bears they had illegally killed.

The two men's attorneys are yet to comment on their sentences.

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'.

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.

Two weeks later on April 30, Andrew Renner brought the adult bear's skin and tracking collar to officials at Alaska's Department of Fish and Game, according to KTLA.

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