Video of father and son illegally killing mama bear, shrieking cubs released in Alaska

Josh Hafner | USA TODAY

Video of a father and son illegally killing a mother bear and her two cubs in Alaska was released this week, two months after the men were sentenced for the act.

The video, published to YouTube by the Humane Society of the United States, shows footage from a camera set up to film the bears as part of a wildlife study.

"They'll never be able to link it to us," a man identified as the son, Owen Renner, says in a clip.

The footage, filmed in April 2018, was released by the Alaska Department of Public Safety following a public records request by the Humane Society, according to Alaska's KTUU-TV.

The video shows father Andrew Renner and son Owen Renner skiing up to a den on an island in Prince William Sound, the Alaska Department of Law said in a statement. The father aims a rifle inside the den before firing "at least two shots" at the bear inside.

"Seconds after the fatal gunshots, cubs began shrieking in the den," the department said.

The father then fires several shots "at point-blank range," killing the newborn cubs, per the statement. The father and son high-five in the video. Owen Renner poses for a photo with the mother bear's carcass.

The father and son butchered the carcass before bagging it and skiing away, per the department, only to return two days later to collect the cubs' carcasses.

"You and me, we don't (expletive) around," the younger man says. "We go where we want to kill (expletive)."

A motion-activated camera filmed above them, part of a joint study on bears between the U.S. Forest Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Warning: The below video contains graphic content. View discretion is advised.

Poachers caught on cam killing bear, cubs in den Poachers were caught on a surveillance camera, set up by the US Forest Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Andrew Renner, 41, and Owen Renner, 18, both of Wasilla, pleaded guilty to poaching the bear and cubs and were sentenced in January, KTUU-TV reported. The father and son were convicted of 12 counts between the two of them for poaching the bears and falsifying related documentation.

Andrew Renner was sentenced to three months in jail, paid a $9,000 fine and lost his hunting license for a decade, the law department said. He also forfeited his 22-foot boat, a GMC pickup, two rifles, two handguns and the skis used in the incident.

Owen Renner, who was 17 at the time of the crime, per the The Anchorage Daily News, lost his hunting license for two years and was sentenced to community service.

Hunting black bears in the region is legal under certain conditions, but state law prohibits harvesting sows with cubs — a practice "hard on the population," per a Fish and Game department guide.

The sow shot was among 20 being studied amid concerns about the bear population in Prince William Sound, The Daily News reported.

Contributing: Joel Shannon, USA TODAY

Follow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner