Just because it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck doesn’t mean it’s a duck you can shoot.
That’s the message Italian politicians want to send to Donald Trump Jr., who’s facing an investigation over claims he killed a protected bird species during a December hunting trip in Venice. The city’s prosecutors opened an inquiry into Trump Jr.’s actions this week after a video of his trip was noticed by animal rights activists, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
The stylized documentary video was produced by Field Ethos, an outdoor media brand founded by Trump Jr. that describes itself as a group of “old-school adventurers who make no apologies for who we are.” Though no longer available on the brand’s YouTube page, ANSA republished the video this week.
It shows Trump Jr.’s hunting group shooting and harvesting various ducks at Venice Lagoon. Dressed in camouflage and surrounded by dead fowl, Trump Jr. gestures to the tawny feathers of one particular bird: “This is actually a rather uncommon duck for the area — not even sure what it is in English,” he says in the video.
The bird turned out to be a ruddy shelduck, a species protected by the European Union bird directive, according to Andrea Zanoni, a regional politician in Venice with the Green Europe party. Zanoni posted about the incident on social media and accused Trump Jr. of breaking Italy’s strict hunting laws.
“The law is the same for everyone, even for Trump’s son!” Zanoni wrote in a social media post (translated from Italian).
A History of Hunting Controversies
Representatives of Donald Trump Jr., the executive vice president of The Trump Organization, didn’t immediately return a request for comment Thursday. However, spokesman Andy Surabian told The Washington Post that Trump Jr. and his group had the proper permits.
“While it’s unclear whether this single duck was unintentionally shot by someone in Don’s hunting group, another hunting group, or killed in a different manner and retrieved by the group’s hunting dog, Don takes following all rules, regulations, and conservation on his hunts very seriously and plans on fully cooperating with any investigation,” Surabian said.
Not everyone in Venice is ready to investigate Trump Jr. over the claims of illegal hunting practices. Joe Formaggio, a regional counselor and member of the far-right Fratelli d’Italia party, brushed off criticism of Trump Jr.
“The Left continues its usual witch hunt,” Formaggio said in a statement posted to the webpage of the Regional Counsel of Veneto.
However, it’s not the first time that Trump Jr. has faced controversy over his hunting. He and his brother Eric, both frequent hunters of big game, have been criticized over photos of African safaris showing dead elephants, crocodiles, leopards, and buffalo.
And in 2019, Trump Jr. was retroactively given a permit for an endangered argali sheep that he’d already killed on a personal expedition to Mongolia. The trip cost taxpayers more than $77,000, according to the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington.
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