Independent conservationists in Zimbabwe said that Donald Trump's sons Donald Jr. and Eric killed an elephant, an endangered leopard, a buffalo, a crocodile and other "big game" animals on a 2011 trip arranged by a South African safari firm that is not registered in Zimbabwe.

Photographs of the brothers — one with the slain leopard and another showing one brother holding up an elephant's severed tail in one hand and a knife in the other — have been were withdrawn from at least one website after a flurry of protests.

Animal protection groups were outraged how "rich people" had boasted about their "shocking and unethical" behavior, the trust said.

A conservation advocate said investigators are sifting through records on whether license and trophy fees were paid and if the South African firm had been cleared by Zimbabwe wildlife authorities to operate in the northwestern province near Victoria Falls.