A man has been sentenced to three months in jail after he and his son were caught on camera killing a mother bear and her two cubs in Alaska.
Andrew Renner, 41, was sentenced on Tuesday, while his 18-year-old son Owen Renner received 30 days of suspended time in connection with the April killings.
Prosecutors said the father and son skied to the site on Esther Island in Prince William Sound.
They said the son killed the mother bear in front of her two cubs and his father then turned his rifle on the shrieking newborns.
A motion-activated camera set up outside the den as part of a bear study by the US Forest Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game captured the carnage.
Both men pleaded guilty to multiple misdemeanour counts, including the illegal killing of bears.
At their sentencing, Andrew Renner was ordered to pay a $9,000 fine, forfeit a pickup truck, boat and trailer, weapons, skis and mobile phones. His hunting license was revoked for 10 years.
Owen Renner was ordered to take a hunters' safety course and his hunting license was suspended for two years.
Prosecutor Aaron Peterson said the younger man was seen as less culpable in the crimes.
Video showed the men approaching the den and noticing the female bear, according to court documents.
The younger Renner fired at least two shots, causing the cubs to shriek.
The men eventually realised the sounds were coming from the cubs, rather than their dead mother. Andrew Renner responded by shooting the cubs.
The camera then catches the elder Renner saying, "It doesn't matter. Bear down."
After dragging the mother from the den, they realised it was wearing a Fish and Game collar.
Andrew Renner tossed the cubs' carcasses onto the snow outside the den and in another video clip, the younger Renner said the mother’s collar was removed.
"They'll never be able to link it to us," he said, before the two butchered the mother bear and placed the remains in game bags before skiing away.
Subsequent video showed them returning two days later to retrieve the collar, pick up shell casings and collecting the cubs’ bodies.
Authorities said Renner also falsified documentation about killing the animal when it was his son who did so and failed to note the number of bears illegally killed.
Mr Peterson said: "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," he said Wednesday.
Additional reporting by Associated Press.
