Botswana threatens to send 20,000 elephants to Germany (OK, but how?)

The Germans must “live with animals as they try to dictate to us”said Botswana’s leader Mokgweetsi Masisi in comments to German daily Bild published online on Tuesday.

“This is not a joke”he added about his bid to resettle 20,000 pachyderms in the northern European country. “We would like to give this gift to Germany”said Mr. Masisi again, adding that he “I wouldn’t take no for an answer”.

Hunting trophies at the center of controversy

Botswana, a landlocked country in southern Africa, is home to the world’s largest population of elephants, around 130,000, which the president says are often difficult to live with, citing attacks on people, villages and crops.

Critics of Germany’s environment ministry, led by environmentalists, focus on hunting trophies for wealthy Western clients.

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At the beginning of this year, the Ministry raised the possibility of stricter restrictions on the import of these trophies due to problems with poaching.

“Within the EU, we are conducting negotiations with the aim of extending the import permit requirement (…) to other hunting trophies of protected animals”a ministry spokesman told AFP on Tuesday.

Since Germany is one of the largest importers of hunting trophies in the EU, it has in this regard “special responsibility”she added.

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In Botswana, the return of elephant hunting

O “gift” according to President Masisi’s assumption, the German Environment Ministry said that “Botswana hasn’t made contact yet” with him about it.

In 2019, Botswana lifted a total hunting ban that had been in place five years earlier to reverse the decline in elephant and other species. The lifting drew the ire of environmentalists. Commercial hunting is also an important source of local income.

Since then, Botswana has decided each year on the quota of animals that can be hunted. Last year, the country also offered 8,000 elephants to Angola and 500 to Mozambique in 2022.

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