Father and son poachers were charged this week after allegedly shooting, on camera, a female black bear and two cubs in a den.
The Anchorage Daily News reported that charges were filed against two men, Andrew Renner, 41, and Owen Renner, 18, in Anchorage District Court on Monday after authorities said the pair was caught on camera killing the bears.
The U.S. Forest Service and Alaska Department of Fish and Game were monitoring the bears as part of a study when they were killed in April, according to an Alaska state troopers press release.
Footage captured of the April 14 incident allegedly shows Owen Renner illegally shooting a female bear out of season before his father allegedly killed “the shrieking newborn bear cubs,” according to the government report.
Authorities also said the father was seen on the video saying: “It doesn’t matter. Bear down.”
{mosads}
The pair allegedly removed the monitoring collar on the bear, disposed of the carcasses of the newborn cubs and later returned to retrieve additional evidence. The entire incidents were all caught on the motion-activated camera, according to the local news report.
“They’ll never be able to link it to us,” the son says in the video, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
Along with the misdemeanor charges for poaching a sow and hunting out of season, the father is reportedly being charged with the felony of tampering with evidence and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The younger suspect was not an adult at the time of the alleged incident.