(Image Source: Elephant Journal )

BY DAVID EARL

The Spanish monarchy has a pretty big black eye after an elephant-sized blunder by the Spanish king. Here’s WCAU with the headline...

“There’s been a stampede of protest over the king taking an extravagant African safari.”

King Juan Carlos was hunting elephants. But instead of responding with ‘let them eat cake,’ the king  actually apologized. Here’s the International Business Times with the king’s statement...

“I am sorry, very sorry, I made a mistake. It won’t happen again.”

A writer for the BBC says this kingly crisis is the worst in the monarchy’s modern history...

“ … the real scandal is that the head of state was off on an expensive hunting expedition in Africa, during one of the most precarious moments in Spain's economic crisis, when more than five million Spaniards are out of work.”

And it’s not cheap hunting elephants.   Give ya a hint from the Guardian … it’s more than what the average Spaniard makes in a year.

“Shoots with Rann Safaris cost upwards of $8,700 a week, with an elephant costing a further $15,000 to kill. A day out with professional hunter Jeff Rann, pictured with the king, costs a further $2,000.”

And Al Jazeera has the details that make this story even worse.

“Animal conservationists are furious, especially as the king is the honorary president of the Spanish branch of the World Wildlife Fund.”

This isn’t the only shooting headline the Spanish royal family made during the past week. The king’s 13-year old grandson recently shot himself in the foot with a shotgun.