Botswana Botswana threatens Germany: ‘If there is a ban on trophy hunting, 20 thousand elephants will be sent to Germany
The president of South African country Botswana has threatened Germany that he will send 20 thousand elephants to Germany in case of a conflict between the two countries. Earlier this year, Germany’s environment ministry proposed stricter restrictions on poaching and trophy hunting.
Botswana’s President Mukwetsi Masisi said in an interview with German media that Germany’s move will only make the people of his country poorer. He said the number of elephants had greatly increased as a result of conservation efforts, but their poaching helped bring their overpopulation under control.
President Masisi told the German newspaper Bild that Germans should ‘live together with animals, which is the way you are trying to tell us. I just want to say, isn’t this a joke? Botswana is home to about a third of the world’s elephant population. There are said to be over 130,000 elephants in Botswana. President Masisi said the herds of elephants were damaging property, eating crops, and trampling residents.
Botswana has previously given 8,000 elephants to neighboring Angola and offered hundreds more to Mozambique after their population declined. We would like to offer Germany such a big gift and they have not heard back from Germany, Masisi says. Botswana’s wildlife minister, Dumizweni Mathimkholo, threatened last month to send 10,000 elephants to London’s Hyde Park so Britons could ‘taste living with them.
In March, UK MPs voted to support a ban on trophy hunting, but the legislation needs further scrutiny before becoming law. The Conservative’s 2019 general election manifesto included a pledge to ban trophy hunting. Botswana and other southern African countries make a lot of money from wealthy Westerners who pay thousands of dollars for a permit or license to hunt or trophy hunt the animal and then take the head or skin home as a trophy. He says the money is used for conservation efforts and to help local people.
Animal rights organizations say the practice is cruel and should be banned. ‘In some areas, there are more elephants than people,’ said Botswana’s wildlife minister. They are killing children who come in their way. They trample and eat the crops of the farmers due to which the people of the area are facing famine.’According to Humane Society International’s 2021 report, Germany is the EU’s largest importer of African elephant trophies and hunting trophies overall. Botswana banned the practice in 2014, but the ban was lifted in 2019 after pressure from local communities.
The country now issues an annual hunting quota, saying it is licensed and strictly controlled. A spokesman for the Environment Ministry in Berlin said that Botswana had not raised any concerns with Germany over the issue. In light of the alarming loss of biodiversity, we have an important responsibility to do everything we can to ensure the sustainable and legal import of trophy hunting, he said.
Australia, France, and Belgium are among the countries that have banned commercial trophy hunting. Botswana has also argued, along with neighbors Zimbabwe and Namibia, that it should be allowed to sell its ivory stocks to cash in on its large elephant population and to try to reduce the country’s poaching problem. East African countries and animal rights groups have opposed it, saying it would encourage poaching.
