Italian politicians have called for action against a hunting party, including Donald Trump Jr., over the potential killing of a protected duck species near Venice.
Andrea Zanoni, a member of the Europa Verde party in the Veneto region, pointed to a video posted on the Field Ethos website, a platform created by Trump for male adventurers. The video shows Trump participating in a hunt in the Valle Pierimpie wetlands, located near the Venice Lagoon.
In the footage, Trump is seen standing next to a dead duck, which Zanoni identifies as a ruddy shelduck. This species is protected in Europe, and killing one is illegal in Italy, according to Zanoni.
While the video doesn’t clearly show who killed the duck or when the hunt took place, it is believed that Trump was in Italy in December, as indicated by a Christmas tree visible in the footage.
Zanoni has called on Veneto legislators to address the situation and work alongside Luana Zanella, a Greens lawmaker in Italy’s lower house, who has also appealed to Italy’s environment minister. Zanoni is also pushing for the suspension or revocation of the hunting license held by the Valle Pierimpie wildlife hunting company that organized the hunt.
Hunting in Italy is tightly controlled, with non-residents only allowed to hunt in private reserves. A spokesperson for Donald Trump Jr. has stated that the hunting group had the proper permits and was hunting in a legally authorized area where multiple other hunting parties were also present.
The spokesman, Andy Surabian, addressed the controversy surrounding the shooting of a duck, noting that it was unclear whether the bird was accidentally shot by someone in Trump’s group, another hunting party, or if it was killed in a different manner and retrieved by the group’s hunting dog. Surabian emphasized that Trump takes hunting regulations, conservation, and adherence to rules very seriously. He also mentioned that Trump intends to fully cooperate with any investigation into the incident.