Russia opens criminal probe of videotaped bear killing

MOSCOW – Investigators in Russia's eastern Siberia region have opened a criminal probe into a videotaped killing of a bear.

Footage released on YouTube this week showed two heavy duty trucks chase and run over a bear into the snow several times with a man filming the video shouting: "Squash him!" The gruesome killing shocked many in Russia, prompting the Investigative Committee, which typical deals with high-profile crimes, to open a probe on the charges of animal cruelty.

Russia's natural resources and environment minister has called for prison time for the perpetrators.

The investigators said in a statement Wednesday that they have found that the men driving the trucks were doing prospecting in the oil and gas-rich Yakutia region.