Mother Bear, Newborn Cubs Killed, Hunter Father-Son Duo Jailed For Poaching

A hunter and his son in Alaska were sentenced Tuesday over the poaching of a black bear mother and her two cubs in their den. Andrew Renner, 41, and his son Owen Renner, 18, will spend three months in jail for the April 2018 killings.

Local media reported the duo also received 30 days of suspended time and were ordered to pay $1,800 each in restitution, with Andrew owing an additional $9,000 fine.

The incident came to light after the killings were caught by a nearby research camera. The father and son skied to the site on Esther Island in Prince William Sound where they killed the "defenseless" animals.

The son killed the hibernating mother bear while the father shot point-blank on the newborns "shrieking in the den," prosecutors said. The son shot the sow bear twice as she slept. Two days after the shooting, the father-son duo were seen returning to the site, picking up the spent shells, and disposing of the dead bear cubs.

They then butchered the mother bear and placed the remains in game bags before skiing away.

"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," assistant attorney general Aaron Peterson said, according to Anchorage Daily News.

The bears, authorities said in a report, were part of a bear study being conducted by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as well as the U.S. Forest Service.

Andrew reportedly said in his defense that he didn't realize the animal was a nursing mother before he shot her. He also allegedly did not see any cubs nearby at the time.

"The defendant, and anyone else that would pursue a 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," Peterson said.