At the beginning of February 2025, statements were disseminated on social networks that Donald Trump Jr. , son of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, had killed ducks illegally in Italy. For example, a user published the complaint in X (archived) February 3:
The post had 2. 5 million perspectives to date, and had shared more than 11,000 times.
It is true that politicians in Italy accused Trump of illegally hunting a protected species and have filed court cases opposing him, legal proceedings have not yet begun. The type of duck in the video had not been confirmed, and it was not transparent if Trump shot it. For those reasons, we evaluate this statement as an aggregate of fact and indeterminate information.
On February 3, Andrea Zanoni, a regional councilor of Veneto, the Venice region, described Trump’s accusations in a Facebook post:
A translation of the position in English has shown that Zanoni had informed the incident to the Regional of Veneto and that Luana Zanella, a member of the Italian Parliament, had informed the Italian (ours.
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 is a few people, adding Donald Trump junior as they kill several ducks.
The video shows Trump J. with a reddish Shelduck (Tadorna Ferruggea) in the foreground, a duck that is very rare in Europe and through the EU bird directive and through the Wildlife Protection Law Italy, L. 157/1992 The death or maintenance of this animal is punishable through the law and, therefore, according to Italian law, constitutes an express crime under the jurisdiction of the Judiciary.
Trump J. would not have been hunting in Italy. Only citizens of one of the Italian regions can hunt in Italy because it is mandatory to have a hunting license issued through the law through the applicant’s residence region.
I have submitted a consultation for the region to inform that it sanctions the intention to implement, such as the suspension or revocation of the authorization opposed to the Hunting of Wildlife and the guilty for acts in violation of Italian and European regulations. Luana Zanella of the Alleange Verdi e Sinistra [Left and Green Alliance] did the same, attacking the Italian government.
[…]
The existing Meloni government is now being held on a leash through the new US political program, with USAF Army training in the EU spaces in the Treviso region (I reported the facts last week at the Piave tomb site in Ciano del Montello) and now Trump’s son hunts species in the Venetian lagoon.
Veneto and Italy are an American property.
Politicians discovered their accusations in a widely shared video in which Trump shows what he calls “a fairly rare duck for the region”, which his accusers have known as a Shelduck Blandish, a species in the board of directors of the birds of the ‘European Union also as 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 a nonresident, might not have received the hunting license.
The regional newspaper Corriere del Veneto published the video, which was reportedly produced by Field Ethos, a company Trump has cofounded that organizes hunting adventure trips. We could not find the original video on Field Ethos’ website or YouTube feed. The video also appeared in an article by The Guardian, credited to Corriere del Veneto.
The Guardian article quoted Massimo Buconi, president of Italy’s Hunting Federation, as saying that while it may not be true that Trump was barred from hunting in Italy for not being a resident, if the duck in question was found to have been a ruddy shelduck, Trump’s shoot would indeed be illegal. “At a glance it looks like a ruddy shelduck,” he told The Guardian. “I don’t know if it’s protected in America, but in Europe, and in Italy, it is protected. You cannot hunt it.”
The Italian media reported that Trump had visited Italy with his girlfriend, Bettina Anderson, in December 2024, which could have been the filming of the video.
We have contacted Zanoni, Zanella, Buconi and Trump to confirm the details of the story. We have also contacted Field Ethos asking for more information.
In the past, Snopes has proven the legitimacy of a symbol that appears to Trump holding an elephant tail cut on an African hunting trip.
“Donald Trump Jr. criticized Italian legislators for an alleged ducks. ” Politician, February 4, 2025, https://www. politico. eu/article/donald-trump-jr-iraly-du-du-hunt — Fotage-Birds-animals-shooting/.
European bird list. 2021, https://www. birdlife. org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/birdlife-european-list-of-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 environment correspondent. ‘Donald Trump Jr Accused of Killing Protected Bird in Venice Lagoon’. The Guardian, 4 Feb. 2025. The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/04/donald-trump-jr-accused-of-killing-protected-bird-in-venice-lagoon.
Roeloffs, Mary Whitfill. Donald Trump Jr. accused of killing a duck in Italy “In-itally/.
“Adventure and great devices of devices. ” Ethos of earth, https://fieldos. com/. Retrieved on 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 and Organi – Splaka Deputato – Zanella Luana. https://www. camera. it/leg19/29?SHADOW_DEPUTATATO=300469&IDLEGALURE=19. Retrieved on February 5, 2025.
Anna Rascouët-Paz is in Brooklyn, fluid in many languages and specializes in clinical and economic issues.