Donald Trump’s sons’ love of hunting proving problematic on election trail

DONALD Trump’s sons have left the US, but where they are going and what they are up to is proving to be a pain for his campaign.

DONALD Trump’s sons are being dragged into the bruising US election campaign with uncomfortable questions being raised about the pair’s love of hunting.

The Republican presidential candidate’s sons, Donald Jr and Eric, have long had a love of the hunt, the pair posing with dead leopards and, at one point, Don Jr even doing a happy snap with a severed elephant tail.

Now Donald Jr has jetted off to Canada with rumours he is to continue satisfying his thrill of the kill.

On Thursday, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton took aim at the junior Trumps after animal rights activists invaded the stage at a rally in Las Vegas.

Secret service agents rushed to Ms Clinton’s side as the demonstrators unfurled at banner criticising the meat industry but the former secretary of state turned the protest back on her opponent.

They must be campaigning against Mr Trump, she said, because “Trump and his kids have killed a lot of animals.”

It’s the first time Ms Clinton has directly made reference to Mr Trump’s progeny, and it topped off a troubling week for The Donald with slip-ups compounded by some Republicans publicly backing his opponent.

Secret Service agents surround Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on stage after animal activists disrupted her campaign in Las Vegas on Thursday. Picture: AP

Last week, according to reports, Donald Jr and Eric left the US — just as their father was battling through arguably his most bruising week on the campaign trail yet.

Rumours were rife they were off hunting.

Bloomberg reported their trip was a fundraising hunt for a foundation set up by the family of a US soldier killed in Libya. Elsewhere, it was suggested they had gone to the Yukon province of Canada, a favourite hunting spot, reported the Washington Post.

On Friday, Donald Jr posted on Instagram that he was in fact in Yellowknife, the capital of the remote Canadian Northwest Territories.

“Father son trip. Taking my little man away for a few days,” he wrote online. Beyond that, little is known of what the trip will entail.

The Trump family’s love of the hunt has been known since at least 2012 when photos of the sons in the southern African nation of Zimbabwe emerged.

Website Gothamist reported that the photos showed the pair posing with “a dead elephant, kudu, civet cat and waterbuck while on a big game safari.”

One graphic image, Gothamist said, showed Donald Jr. proudly holding a dead elephant tail in one hand and a knife in the other. It’s previous, and by now very dead owner, lies next to him.

Another, reportedly, had a crocodile hanging from a noose off a tree.

At the time, Donald Trump was simply a business man and reality TV show presenter. Now, he could be the next leader of the US and his son’s hobbies are attracting lots of unwanted attention.

Images of their big game kills regularly resurface online as election day draws closer. Each time, social media predictably explodes with anger at a couple of rich kids killing creatures whose population, in parts of the world, is declining.

What went so wrong with Trump sons that they could kill this beautiful creature pic.twitter.com/L1gquLQrRz

— mia farrow (@MiaFarrow) May 13, 2015

Yes, Donald Trump Jr. is just like you and me, regular folk. We all just love a good hunt after a hard day's work. pic.twitter.com/yr1b6eUXgL

— Barry Rothman (@BarryARothman) July 20, 2016

The GOP. Here's Donald Trump Jr. holding the tail of an elephant (party symbol) that he killed. #TrumpSacrifices pic.twitter.com/FIGkcH2F0t

— JRob (@J_Rob66) July 31, 2016

The campaign has tried to humanise the pair, even taking CNN off pheasant hunting.

The brothers told the news station that hunting was part of their culture, that it had been taught to them by a grandfather in eastern Europe and they “truly, truly love,” the pastime.

They defended killing elephants, crocodiles and leopards by claiming hunting actually pays for conservation parks in parts of Africa which protect the vast majority of animals within them.

There’s been no suggestion their hunting has broken any laws and many of the animals they shoot are in abundance.

Trump senior has also defended his sons. Personally, he prefers golf he said, on a trip last year to a course he owns in Britain. “But my sons are hunters, Eric is a hunter and I would say he puts it on a par with golf, if not ahead of golf.

“My other son, Don, is a hunter. They’re great marksman, great shots, they love it.”

If they are on the scent of a fresh kill in Canada they have lots of beasts to choose from.

Caribou, moose, wolves, grizzly bears and even polar bears can be hunted if someone has the right paperwork.

But, if this is why Trump’s sons are in Canada, they may want to refrain from bragging about the kills they make.

Many Americans, particularly in the major cities, are appalled by the sight of wild animals felled in their prime.

On this issue, the Clinton campaign can smell blood and an ill-timed image of a dead polar bear could be just the thing they need to further twist the knife into trump’s presidential chances.