At the beginning of February 2025, the statements extended on the social networks that Donald Trump Jr. , son of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, had illegally killed the ducks in Italy. For example, a user published the complaint about X (filed) on February 3:
The post had 2. 5 million prospects to date, and had been shared more than 11,000 times.
It is true that politicians in Italy have accused Trump of illegally hunting a protected species and have filed court cases opposed to him, legal proceedings have not yet begun. The type of duck in the video had not been confirmed, and it was unclear if Trump himself shot it. For these reasons, we have evaluated this statement as an aggregate of facts and indeterminate information.
On Feb. 3, Andrea Zanoni, a regional councillor of Veneto, the region around Venice, outlined the accusations against Trump in a Facebook post:
A translation of the post into English has shown that Zanoni had reported the incident to the Veneto Regional and that Luana Zanella, a member of the Italian Parliament, had reported it to the Italian (our.
In a video of Field Ethos, the global adventure search, I watched several scenes of ducks in the Venetian lagoon, recently filmed in Valle Pierrimpié in Campagna Lupia (VE).
[…]
The video some people, adding Donald Trump Jr. , killing several ducks.
The video shows Trump J. with an Ruddy Shelduck (Tadorna Ferruggea) in the foreground, a very rare duck in Europe and through the EU Bird Directive and through Italian law on the coverage of wildlife, L. 157/1992. The death or maintenance of this animal is punished through the law and, consequently, according to Italian law, constitutes an express crime under the jurisdiction of the judiciary.
Only citizens of one of the Italian regions can hunt in Italy because it is mandatory to have a hunting permit issued through the law through the applicant’s region of residence.
I have presented a consultation for the region to inform that it sanctions the intention to implement, such as the suspension or revocation of the opposite authorization to the wildlife of hunting and those blame for acts in violation of Italian and European regulations. LUANA ZANELLA DEL ALLEANGE VERDI AND SINISTRA [LEFT AND GREEN ALLIAANCE] did the same, attacking the Italian government.
[…]
The current Meloni government now seems to be held on a leash by the new U.S. political program, with USAF military exercises in EU-protected areas in the Treviso area (I reported the facts last week regarding the site of the Piave graves in Ciano del Montello) and now Trump’s son is hunting protected species in the Venice lagoon.
Veneto and Italy are US properties.
The politicians founded their accusations in a widely shared video in which Trump shows what he calls “a quite rare duck for the region”, which his accusers have known as Shelduck, a species in the Bird Directive of the European Union, as well as the Italian. and the Italian law. The Ruddy Shelduck is one of the indexed species in the list of European red birds, which evaluates the threat of extinction of the birds of the continent.
Zenella also said that Trump, as not resident, may not have received the hunting license.
Regional newspaper Corriere del Veneto published the video, which it reportedly produced through Field Ethos, a co-founded corporate Trump that organizes hunting adventure trips. We were unable to locate the original video on Ethos Field’s online page. Print on an article in The Guardian, credited to Corriere del Veneto.
The Guardian’s article quoted Massimo Buconi, president of the Italian Hunt It was fog, Trump’s filming, Trump’s filming in fact would be illegal. “At a glance, it looks like a prescribed Shelduck,” he told The Guardian. “I don’t know if he is in the United States, but in Europe and Italy, he can’t chase him. “
Italian media outlets have reported that Trump visited Italy with his girlfriend, Bettina Anderson, in December 2024, which may have been when the video was filmed.
We communicate with Zanoni, Zanella, Buconi and Trump to verify the main points of the story. We have also contacted the ethics of the picture to ask for more information.
Snopes has already tested the legitimacy of a symbol that depicts Trump holding an elephant tail cut short an African hunting trip.
‘Donald Trump Jr. Slammed by Italian Lawmakers over Alleged Illegal Duck Hunt’. POLITICO, 4 Feb. 2025, https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-jr-iraly-duck-hunt-illegal-footage-birds-animals-shooting/.
European Redbird List. 2021, https://www. birdlife. org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/birdlife-european-red-list-f-birds-2021. pdf. pdf.
‘Home’. Andrea Zanoni, https://www.andreazanoni.it/. Accessed 5 Feb. 2025.
“Italian politicians are looking for opposite measures to the Trump Jr. hunting party for allegedly killing a duck. ” AP News, February 4, 2025, https://apnews. com/article/itly-trump-jr-du-hunt-invesgation-415A449C345800EE974BC12738FC4BE1.
Niranjan, Ajit and Ajit Niranjan Europe corresponding. “Donald Trump, accused of having killed Bird protected in the Venice Lagoon. ” The Guardian, February 4, 2025. The Guardian, https://www. thegudian. com/World/2025/feb/04/donald-trump-jr-accusse-of-killing-proteted-bird-in-venice- Lagoon
Roeloffs, Mary Whitfill. “Donald Trump Jr. accused of killing a duck in Italy. ” Forbes, https://www. forbes. com/sites/maryroeloffs/2025/02/04/donald-trump-jr-acused-of-killing-potted-du-du-in-itally/. Retrieved on February 5, 2025.
“Great stories and teams. ” Field ethos, https://fieldos. com/. accise February 5, 2025.
The Birds Directive – European Commission. 23 January 2025, https://environment. ec. europa. eu/topics/nature-and-biodiversity/birds-directive_en.
XIX Legislature – Diputati e Organi – Splaka Diputato – Zanella Luana. https://www. camera. it/leg19/29??shadow_deputatato=300469
Anna Rascouët-Paz is based in Brooklyn, fluent in numerous languages and specializes in science and economic topics.