World Wildlife Fund (WWF) España held a meeting yesterday to decide if they should strip King Juan Carlos of his honorary presidency after it’s been discovered he’s been on several trips to Africa to hunt and kill elephants. A huge embarrassment for King Juan Carlos, who has been getting criticism from all over Spain, it’s even more embarrassing for the World Wildlife Fund as they can hardly have an honorary president who thinks hunting and shooting endangered wildlife is acceptable.
During the meeting, the WWF board agreed unanimously to start the necessary proceedings to modify article 6 of the statutes that pertain to honorary members of the organization. That means it’s just about a certainty King Juan Carlos will be asked to resign. After the meeting, Juan Carlos del Olmo, the secretary general of WWF Espana, made their position clear by saying the King’s position as honorary president had become untenable.
While the King, up until now, has always received mostly positive support in Spain, this incident has definitely damaged his reputation. World Wildlife Fund have received complaints from members all over the world asking them to strip Juan Carlos of his honorary presidency. In this day and age, when it’s a choice between a King whose reputation in a wildlife matter has been severely tarnished, and tens of thousands of WWF supporters, the King will lose out. As it should be.