Mia Farrow shares photo of Trump children with dead leopard: 'Tell your sons animal cruelty is now a crime'
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr have been photographed with a dead elephant and a water buffalo during their 'trophy' hunts in Zimbabwe
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.After Donald Trump signed a law that makes animal cruelty a federal crime, a photo of the president's eldest sons holding a leopard they killed has resurfaced, along with other photos from their safari massacres.
The Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act bans abusive behaviour towards animals, including crushing, burning, drowning, suffocating, impaling and otherwise injuring mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians.
Mia Farrow, a vocal critic of Mr Trump, wrote to the president on Twitter, saying "tell your sons that animal cruelty is now a crime" alongside a photo of Eric and Donald Trump Jr hoisting a dead leopard while smiling during a 2011 hunt in Zimbabwe.
The photo was circulated in a 2012 article that revealed the Trump brothers posing with several other animals they killed, including an elephant, a water buffalo, kudu, civet cat, and a crocodile that was hanging from a noose in a tree. In one photo, Donald Trump Jr holds up an elephant's tail he removed with a knife.
Following the release of the photos, PETA criticised the Trumps in a statement saying that the dead animals "deserve better than to be killed and hacked apart for two young millionaires' grisly photo opportunity".
On Twitter, Donald Trump Jr fired back, saying "I'm not going to run and hide because the [PETA] crazies don't like me."
In tweets that have since been deleted, he also said: "Not a PR move I didn't give the pics but I have no shame about them either. I HUNT & EAT game" and "I AM A HUNTER I don't hide from that."
The president, meanwhile, has called that kind of hunting a "horror show" — despite forming an advisory board largely composed of people who support hunting threatened species.
The Wildlife Conservation Council argued that those hunts are helpful in conservation efforts abroad.
The US can't ban Americans from "trophy" hunts outside of the country but it does prohibit the import of remains from animals covered under the Endangered Species Act.
The Trumps' photographs are among several high-profile captures that revealed wealthy Americans enjoying the killings of threatened animals abroad, including GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons, who posted a video of himself fatally shooting an elephant in Zimbabwe in 2011, and dentist Walter Palmer, who killed 13-year-old tourist attraction Cecil the lion in 2015.
More recently, social media users called for a boycott of the sandwich chain Jimmy John's after resurfaced photos showed its CEO Jimmy John Liautaud posing with dead elephants, a rhino, a grizzly bear, and a leopard.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments