Donald Trump Jr. accused of hunting protected duck in Italy: 'It's a crime'

Donald Trump Jr., President Trump’s adult son, and a group he was with have been accused of hunting a protected duck in Italy.

Andrea Zanoni, an Italian politician, said in a post on Facebook this week that he observed a video from the Venetian Lagoon in which Trump Jr., as part of a recent hunt, pointed to a deceased duck among a pile of others.

"The video shows some people, including Donald Trump Junior, killing several ducks," Zanoni said in the post.

“Only residents of one of the Italian regions can hunt in Italy because you need to have a hunting card, which is issued by law by the region of residence of the applicant,” he added.

The bird in question is a ruddy shelduck, "a very rare duck in all of Europe," Zanoni said.

It's not known if Trump himself or another person killed the protected bird.

In the video clip, reviewed by The New York Times, Trump, an avid game hunter, hid among tall grasses beside a pile of dead ducks.

“This is a rather uncommon duck for the area,” he said in the video, pointing to the copper-colored dead bird next to him. “Not even sure what it is in English.”

The ruddy shelduck, or Tadorna ferruginea, is also known in India as the Brahminy duck, according to The Guardian, which reports the bird winters in southern Asia but breeds in Europe. It is not considered endangered, but it protected by both the European Union and Italy.

"It is morally despicable," Luana Zanella, another Italian lawmaker, said, according to the Times. "And it’s a crime."

In his post, Zanoni said the killing or detention of the ruddy shelduck is "criminally sanctioned and therefore according to Italian law, it constitutes a precise crime of the judiciary’s competence.”

“Veneto and Italy are not the property of the USA,” his post concluded.

A spokesperson for Trump Jr., Andy Surabian, said in a statement to The Hill that it was “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 added that Trump Jr. “takes following all rules, regulations and conservation on his hunts very seriously and plans on fully cooperating with any investigation.”

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