ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A father and son skied to a remote bear den on an Alaska island, shot a mother bear in front of her two cubs and then one of them turned his rifle on the shrieking newborns, killing them, authorities said.

The men didn’t know that the black bears were part of an observation program and the slaughter was caught on video by a motion-activated camera outside the den.

Andrew Renner, 41, and son Owen Renner, 18, have been charged with multiple counts, including the illegal killing of a bear and both cubs in the April incident. Under state law, it’s illegal to kill black bear cubs or sows with cubs in most of Alaska, including where the shooting occurred.

The video camera was placed on Esther Island in Prince William Sound as part of a bear study by the U.S. Forest Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Troopers later obtained the camera, which contained multiple 30-second video clips. The clips from April 14 show Andrew and Owen Renner of Palmer approaching the den and noticing the female bear, court documents say.

“Owen Renner shoulders a rifle and fires as least two shots at the bear. Cubs begin shrieking in the den after the initial shots are fired,” the documents say. “The defendants listen for several minutes and eventually realize that it is not the dead sow, but the orphaned cubs, making the sounds.

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“The defendants then move closer to the den, where Andrew Renner takes aim through his rifle scope only feet away and fires several more shots, killing the newborn bear cubs,” according to the court papers.

The camera catches the elder Renner saying, “It doesn’t matter. Bear down.”

The father and son drag the mother bear from the den and realize it has a Fish and Game collar.

“Undeterred, Andrew Renner says, ‘I’m gonna get rid of these guys’ while tossing the cubs’ limp carcasses onto the snow outside the den,”‘ the documents say.


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