King Juan Carlos of Spain has been cleared of killing a drunken bear during a holiday in Russia.
It had been claimed hunt organisers, keen to impress the visiting
monarch, had made sure the animal was an easy target for the King by
plying it with vodka.
Russian newspaper Kommersant even published a letter from Vologda's Deputy Chief of Hunting Resources Management, Sergei Starostin,
in which he alleged organisers of the royal hunt had forced the drunken
bear from its cage before, according to Starostin: "His Majesty Juan Carlos killed Mitrofan {the bear} with a single shot.....naturally, a heavy, drunken animal became an easy target."
The tactic of plying animals with alcohol is apparently nothing new, it
having been a popular ruse of the late Russian President Leonid
Brezhnev. Officials made sure their leader had no problem hitting the
target by tying animals to trees as well as plying them with strong
alcohol.
Following
the initial allegation concerning King Juan Carlos, the local Governor
of Vologda in Northeast Moscow ordered an investigation into the
remarkable claims, the result of which has found the King wholly
innocent.
It has even been denied that the monarch was even in the area at the
time of the alleged incident, although he did visit the region in
August.
