In 2010 Donald Trump, Jr., and his brother Eric Trump went on safari in Zimbabwe. Photos from the safari were obtained without permission and posted online. The hunt included elephant, Cape buffalo, leopard and crocodile. The images drew the expected vitriol from anti-hunting extremists, such as PETA and other organizations that want to ban all hunting, regardless of where it is or who is doing it. In response to those attacks Don tweeted, “I’m a hunter, for that I make no apologies.”
The plot thickened when the “Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force” announced it was “launching an investigation” and could find no record of the Trumps having hunted legally in Zimbabwe, alleging the hunt was illegal and unethical, and, uhm, tantamount to poaching. Well the “Task Force” may have wanted to check the Zimbabwe Parks And Wildlife Management Authority. In a letter dated March 27, 2012, the Director General of ZPWMA wrote in part: “The only investigation which should occur is that of the ‘anti-hunting’ organizations who are peddling untruths falsely presented as facts.” The letter continued, “The Trumps’ hunt was no different than that of thousands of other hunters who come to Zimbabwe annually from around the world to pursue game.” I have hunted in Zimbabwe, and when you hunt, as did the Trumps, there is a Game and Parks ranger with you the whole time you are afield.
I had the chance to talk to the rather forthright Don Jr., and he told me he does not really care what anti-hunters say about him, but what does matter to him is that his fellow shooters and hunters get the impression he and his brother were doing something wrong or illegal. That was too much for him to take, so he shared the attached letter from ZPWMA.
Don Jr. and Eric are both NRA Life members. Don Jr. has been on seven safaris and he regularly shoots in competition with Creedmoor Sports’ Dennis DeMille. As Trumps, they are thick skinned, but when it comes to fellow shooters and hunters, they wanted the record set straight.
