Vacation photos from an African safari that Donald Trump’s sons, Eric and Donald Jr., took to Zimbabwe are at the center of controversy today — that’s because they show the younger Trumps proudly posing in front of the carcasses of wild animals that they hunted and killed.
The photos, which were taken a year ago, caused a firestorm among animal rights activists after they ended up in a slideshow posted on YouTube. In one photo seen in the video below, Donald Trump Jr. smiles as he holds up a tail that appears to have been cut from an elephant. The brothers can be seen posing in front of the bodies of a crocodile, a kudu, a civet cat and a water buck.
PETA was quick to lash out at the Trumps, telling E! News, “If the young Trumps are looking for a thrill, perhaps they should consider skydiving, bungee jumping, or even following in their anti-hunting father’s footsteps and taking down competing businesses — not wild animals.”
Today, Donald Jr. took to Twitter to defend himself.
“I’m a hunter, for that I make no apologies,” he tweeted. He later added, “I can assure you it was not wasteful the villagers were so happy for the meat which they don’t often get to eat.”
In response to one Twitter user’s criticism of the photo of him with the elephant tail, Trump said, “The villagers did that as part of their tradition. I went along with it they thought it was a cool pic. Take it up w them.”
(via TMZ)
