Apparently, Florida Gov. Rick Scott decided not to ignore the  elephant in the room during his visit in Madrid with the Spanish king this  week.

St. Augustine leaders probably wished he had.

To the surprise of the Spanish government and possibly the entire country,  Scott repeatedly asked King Juan Carlos about his recent — and extremely  controversial — elephant hunt in Botswana.

The 74-year-old king badly damaged his public standing in Spain by going on  the expensive hunt while the country faces a major financial crisis. He also  injured his hip.

In videos of the encounter, Scott joked he'd ridden elephants, but never  tried to shoot them.

And he told Juan Carlos he needed a better tale than saying he hurt his hip  getting out of bed.

The king laughed uncomfortably.