Feb. 5 (UPI) — Donald Trump Jr. is under fire for allegedly killing a “very rare” protected duck while on a hunting trip in Italy.
An Italian lawmaker recently filed a legal complaint against President Donald Trump’s oldest son, 47, after a video surfaced that showed him surrounded by a flurry of dead birds in a protected Venice lagoon conservation area.
Andrea Zanoni, a regional councilor in the north Italy region of Veneto, says video shows the president’s son next to the body of a rare ruddy shelduck, otherwise known in Italy as “Tadorna ferruginea.”
“Don and his group had all the proper permits and were hunting in a legally allowed area, where there were countless other hunting groups present,” his spokesman, Andy Surabian, told CNN.
“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 groups hunting dog,” Surabian said.
“Don takes following all rules, regulations and conservation on his hunts very seriously and plans on fully cooperating with any investigation.”
The ruddy shelduck is known in India as the Brahminy duck. Zanoni said it is a protected species and “very rare in all of Europe.” It’s a migratory bird species that breeds in southeast Europe, but spends winter in southern Asia.
The video in question was filmed in Valle Pierimpie’ in Campagna Lupia and spread widely on Italian media.
“At a glance it looks like a ruddy shelduck,” said Massimo Buconi, president of the Italian Hunting Federation. “I don’t know if it’s protected in America, but in Europe, and in Italy, it is protected. You cannot hunt it,” he told The Guardian.
In addition, a complaint is expected to be filed against Trump’s hunting guide, Oliver Martini, who can be heard explaining in the video the wetlands were “special” and “managed privately” by his wealthy family.
“This is actually a rather uncommon duck for the area,” Trump, an avid hunter, was heard saying as he donned a camouflage outfit. “Great morning,” he added. “Not even sure what it is in English. But incredible shoot.”
Meanwhile, it was independently confirmed to be a ruddy shelduck by ENPA — Italy’s animal protection league.
The now-removed video was published Sunday in Donald Trump Jr.’s “premier lifestyle publication for the unapologetic man,” Field Ethos, of which he is a co-founder and publisher.
Zanoni filed the complaint with the Forest Carabinieri of Mestre Venice. In 2009, he reported Spain’s then-King Juan Carlos to authorities for illegal hunting in a permit-required hunting area.
“The Carabinieri will have to verify several violations with particular reference” to the incident, he wrote in a Facebook post.
Italy’s environment minister, Gilberto Pichetto, said he was “waiting for a report to know more and have all the information” regarding the case.
However, a hunting expert sid there was “nothing exclusive or abnormal about the duck hunt in question.”
“Italian law allows the possibility for foreigners to hunt under strict guidelines,” said Leone Rossi di Montelera, who runs the travel hunting firm Italian Safari. “They have to have a valid hunting license in their home countries, and they must be sponsored by an authorized Italian hunting guide.”
The Trump White House has been allied with Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, 48, and she was among right-wing world leaders to attend Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration, even traveling to his Florida estate to meet with Trump after the election.
