Spain's king cleared of shooting drunk bear

An official Russian commission set up to investigate allegations that Spain’s King Juan Carlos killed a tame drunken bear during a trip to the country has cleared the monarch.

Provincial governor Vyacheslav Pozgalyov of the Vologda region north east of Moscow said the king had not fired a single shot on a trip to the area in August, adding he had mainly shown interest in cultural sites.

“All rumours and speculation about Spanish King Juan Carlos’ alleged hunting in the Vologda region are ungrounded and untrue,” Pozgalyov said yesterday.

“I confirm that King of Spain Juan Carlos I visited our region, but the rest is a concoction: there was no hunting whatsoever,” Pozgalyov said.

Earlier this month, Sergei Starostin, a hunting official in the Vologda region, published a letter in the local media claiming the tame bear, named Mitrofan, had been fed honey mixed with vodka before being released near a site where the king was to be hunting.

“Naturally, a heavy, drunken animal became an easy target. His Highness Juan Carlos took Mitrofan out with one shot,” Starostin said in the letter.

Pozgalyov set up a commission to investigate the allegations.

The Spanish royal palace first pointedly denied that the king, a known hunting enthusiast, had killed a bear – drunk or sober – but edged away from the flat denial a day later.

A palace spokesman said the allegations were ridiculous, but would neither confirm nor deny that the king had been hunting during a trip to Russia in August or whether he had shot a bear.