Poacher caught on camera shooting bears / The Humane Society of the United States
WARNING: Disturbing content:
Sickening footage of a father and son high-fiving after slaughtering a black bear mother and her cubs has been released.
The video released by the US Humane Society shows Andrew Renner, 41, and Owen Renner, 18, shooting the bear sow and cubs on Alaska's Esther Island in Prince William Sound in April 2018.
The horrifying footage, shot by a hidden camera as part of a research study, had been withheld by authorities until after the father and son were sentenced in January of this year.
Unknown to the Renners, their actions were caught on hidden camera. Photo / via video
"They'll never be able to link it to us," Owen Renner can be overheard saying to his father after the two drag the sow from den and trade high-fives.
The video shows the son posing shirtless with the dead bear and holding its claws up for their camera.
"You and me don't f*** around, we pretty much, we go where we want to kill s***," Owen tells his father.
The father and son butchered the adult bear off camera and took the meat and skin away in game bags, according to police.
Owen Renner poses with the sow bear. Photo / via video
Police say that the pair took the skin to the Alaska Department of Fish & Game in Palmer, lying about where he took the bear and saying he saw no cubs.
It is illegal to kill bear cubs or a sow bear with cubs in Alaska.
The video also shows that the men returned to the site a couple of days later to hide all evidence of their crime, stuffing the bear cubs' bodies into a bag, disposing of a tracking collar placed on the mother bear as part of the study, and retrieving their spent bullet casings.
The pair crept up on the hibernating bears. Photo / via video
Andrew and Owen Renner, both of Wasilla, were charged with unlawfully taking female bear with cubs, two charges of unlawfully taking cubs, and possessing and transporting illegally taken game.
Additionally, Andrew Renner was charged with tampering with evidence, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and second degree falsification.
Authorities say Andrew Renner falsified documentation about shooting the bear when it was really his son who opened fire. He also failed to note how many bears they had illegally killed.
In January, Andrew Renner was sentenced to five months in jail with two months suspended.
Andrew Renner was sentenced to five months in jail with two months suspended and had his hunting license suspended for 10 years. Photo / Supplied
He was also ordered to pay a fine of US$20,000 with US$11,000 suspended, forfeit his 22' Sea Sport ocean boat and trailer, 2012 GMC Sierra pickup truck, two rifles, two handguns, two iPhones, and two sets of backcountry skis which were used in the offenses. His hunting license was revoked for 10 years.
Owen Renner was sentenced to suspended jail time, community works service and required to take a hunter's safety course. His hunting license was suspended for two years.
Both defendants were ordered to pay US$1800 restitution, the amount set by statute for illegally killing black bears.
