A father and son have been found guilty of illegally slaughtering a family of hibernating black bears in Alaska and video of their actions has been released by the Humane Society of the U.S.
It happened nearly one year ago in the wilderness on Esther Island in the city of Prince William Sound. Andrew Renner, 41, and Owen Renner, 18, found a mother black bear and her two cubs huddled under a large tree stump. Andrew shot the mother first, then killed the two cubs before dragging the bodies out of the den.
Killing the black bear cubs or a mother with cubs is illegal on Esther Island by state law.
The horiffic video was released by HSUS in hopes to urge the federal government to make stricter laws agains trophy hunting. It shows the two returning to the scene of the crime, trying to destroy evidence and find their shell casing.
"They’ll never be able to link it to us," they can be heard saying in the video.
The wilderness camera was filming the bears for a research project through the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Forest Service. They were studing the dwindling bear population in the region had adapted to an increase in human activity.
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