Botswana threatens to offer 20,000 elephants to Germany to illustrate difficulty of living with pachyderm

While Germany wants to fight poaching and ban the import of hunting trophies, Mokgweetsi Masisi, the head of state of Botswana, responds that the German population must understand what life is like in the presence of elephants.

It’s a bit of a crazy form of coercion, but it’s not just a whim. Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi elected BildGermany’s most widely read tabloid to explain its approach. “The German climate, though disgusting”will be suitable “Perfect for elephants”he told a German daily on April 3. “They will be able to roam as they please in the great plains in the east of the country. The Germans will begin to understand what Batswana is.” live every day. In addition, Mokgweetsi Masisi warns, “because Germany seems to love elephants so much”, its rejection is out of the question.

Botswana in southern Africa is barely bigger than France. It has a population of 2.5 million and 130,000 elephants. That’s a third of the world’s pachyderm population and has more than doubled in 30 years. Coexistence with humans is becoming more difficult every day, herd attacks on villages and crops are increasing. In 2019, the country therefore decided to resume elephant hunting. On the one hand, to regulate their numbers, but also to return currencies to rich tourists who pay tens of thousands of euros for safaris and support entire communities.

London is already threatening to send 10,000 elephants

The decision is causing a scandal as an increasing number of animal-sensitive countries are seriously considering banning the import of hunting trophies. The Netherlands, France and Belgium have already made up their minds. Berlin should follow, hence the sullenness of the president of Botswana.

Moreover, it is not the first time, already in March, when British MPs voted to ban the import of trophies (the legislative process is not complete), Mokgweetsi Masisi threatened to send 10,000 pachyderms to London by offering to store them in Hyde Park. . He has not yet fulfilled his threat. On the other hand, it has already donated 8,000 elephants to its Angolan neighbor and several hundred to Mozambique.

Germany, the largest importer of hunting trophies in Europe

But if tomorrow the Germans no longer go hunting because they can no longer bring back trophies to decorate their living room, despite being the biggest importers of these exotic pieces in Europe, Botswana will lose a convenient source of income without solving its ivory. overpopulation.

The German Ministry of the Environment has very openly announced that it has not received any offers of elephant donations, but that “welcomes an invitation from Botswana to review its wildlife policies”.