Donald Trump Jr shoots down endangered species, gets approval afterwards

A recent report has revealed that US President Donald Trump's son Donald Trump Jr received a permit for shooting in Mongolia which was retroactively issued after Trump met with the country’s president. Trump Jr killed a rare species of endangered sheep on a hunting trip to Mongolia earlier this summer in August. The rare argali sheep is now scanty in number reducing from 50,000 in 1985 to just 18,000 in 2009 yet tragically, tourists can still hunt them if they have a special permit. The species is prized for their ornate curved horns, which can grow up to six feet in length. Jr. has had a history of hunting which includes a wide range of endangered and exotic wildlife.

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Trump Jr out on hunting

Earlier Trump Jr is reported to have killed a Hungarian boar from Succession, with Don Jr downing the ram late at night using a laser-sighted rifle. Moreover, he also killed a red deer during the trip, on which he was joined by his 13-year-old half-brother Barron, his son Donnie, five American bodyguards and a number of Mongolian guides, scouts and herders. His adventures are well documented over his Instagram and Facebook handle, with pictures of his luxury yurt, riding on horseback, handling a live eagle and navigating the snowbound steppes. Take a look.

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Permit granted just before Trump Jr's trip

In his defence, a spokesman for Don Jr told the media that he bought the seven-day jaunt at a charity auction held by the NRA back in 2015 but only this year had a chance to take it, adding that he and his entourage flew in and out on a commercial flight rather than Air Force One. Yet dateline of events reveals that Mongolian President Battulga visited US President Trump at the White House on 31 July to discuss strengthening ties between Mongolia and the United States and gifted the Trumps a horse, which the president named "Victory". And Jr went out hunting in August. Reports describe the process of awarding them in Mongolia as controlled by an opaque permitting system that is mostly based on money, connections, and politics. Moreover, Jr. was amongst the only three issued in the region this summer, with the decision to award it after he'd left described as "unusual".

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Ironically, the President himself has spoken out against the practice, calling such hunting practices a “horror show” despite his two sons being avid trophy hunters. As per earlier laws, to kill an endangered species, a US hunter must show that its killing would be beneficial overall to the species at large. Later, Trump administration pushed back against such restrictions on trophy hunting from the Obama era before reinstating the ban. Yet imports were continued as the court found that it had been done improperly. Actress-activist Mia Farrow recently trolled the president with a picture of Don Jr and his brother Eric posing with a dead leopard following the passing of a bill by Congress making animal cruelty a felony. 

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