The situation around Donald Trump Jr. allegedly killing a rare duck has escalated. Now, Italian authorities have officially launched a probe into whether the politician's son committed a crime.
Trump Jr. went hunting in Italy where he allegedly poached an orange-plumed Ruddy Shelduck in December. Although Trump's team claims they had papers to hunt in the country, that particular species of duck is protected in the country. On February 9, a local magistrate opened an investigation into the incident. The Public Prosecutor's Office of Venice will see if Don Jr. is at fault.
This comes after politician Andrea Zanoni put Trump on blast for allegedly illegally killing the duck. A video of the hunting trip shows Trump near an orange-colored duck. He says, "Is a rather uncommon bird in the area. I'm not even sure what it is."
A representative for Trump says, "Don takes following all rules, regulations and conservation on his hunts very seriously. And plans on fully cooperating with any investigation." Likewise, they added, "It is unclear whether this individual duck was accidentally killed by someone in Don's hunting party, another hunting party. Or was killed in another manner and retrieved by the party's hunting dog."
Trump In Legal Trouble
But Zanoni told The Times, "It doesn't matter if the duck was killed by a dog or another hunter since the law also applies to anyone found in possession of a protected species that has been hunted. And Don Jr showed the world in the video that the duck was in his possession."
Trump was on a hunting trip with six other hunters in Italy. Since the hunting trip, Zanoni has pursued legal action against the politician's son for committing what critics amount to as poaching.
Zanoni said, "Like any foreigner, in Italy he was not allowed to hunt by law. In fact, in our country only residents of one of the Italian regions can hunt. You need a hunting license issued by the police headquarters, but above all you need a hunting license issued only and exclusively to residents of one of the Italian regions, a mandatory document where you can note the date, place of hunting and quantity of animals killed divided by individual species."
We'll see what becomes of the allegations.
