Video of father and son killing mama bear, cubs sparks outrage: 'Just disgusting and abhorrent'

After a father and son pleaded guilty to illegally killing a hibernating black bear and her cubs in Alaska, video of the “despicable” killings released by the Humane Society have sparked outrage.

A wildlife camera set up to study the bear family caught Andrew Renner and his son, Owen Renner, sneaking up to the winter den on skis and shooting the mama bear as two cubs were heard shrieking inside the den. After they high-fived, Owen stopped to pose for a photo with the dead mama bear.

“They’ll never be able to link it to us,” he says in the video, which was taken in April 2018.

The hunting of cubs or a mother bear with cubs is illegal in parts of Alaska, as The Humane Society explained on a petition urging Acting Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt not to reverse a federal rule protecting certain wildlife, as his department proposed last year.

“If this heinous cruelty occurs while protections are already in place, overturning them would all but encourage these massacres to continue,” The Humane Society’s petition reads. “We need more federal protections, not less, to ensure that these types of cruel and horrific activities are banned for good.”

People on the internet were outraged by the Renners’ actions, calling the video “disgusting” and calling for the government to further ban trophy hunting — not make it easier to hunt big game in the U.S.

Comparisons were also made to Eric and Donald Trump Jr.’s big-game hunting trips. The first sons have posed with huge leopards and parts of elephants they’ve slain in the past.

The Renners both pleaded guilty to poaching the bears in January, local Alaskan broadcast station KTUU-TV reports. Andrew was sentenced to five months in jail with two months suspended, a fine of $20,000 with $11,000 suspended, and ordered to forfeit any property he used to kill the bears.

Owen was sentenced to suspended jail time, community service, and was ordered to take a hunter safety course. They both had their hunting licenses revoked, for 10 years and two years respectively.

“Justice was served — but these animals deserve more respect and compassion,” The Humane Society’s petition says.

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