20,000 elephants to flood Germany, threaten Botswana

Botswana’s president has threatened to send 20,000 elephants to Germany amid a row over wildlife protection and human-animal conflict.

Botswana has one of the largest elephant populations in the world.

Interviewed by a German daily BildPresident Mokwezi Masisi has questioned Germany’s proposals to restrict trophy hunting, saying it would worsen the country’s elephant overpopulation problem, which is already a “plague”.

“Germans should live with animals, just like you are trying to tell us,” the president of the African republic said.

Botswana issues annual licenses to hunt elephants, which are considered pests to the African country. The government banned elephant hunting in 2014 due to human-animal conflicts and damage to crops and homes, but lifted the ban in 2019 to allow the killing of a limited number of pachyderms at the request of local communities.

Earlier this year, Germany’s environment ministry expressed concerns about the import of hunting trophies, prompting a strong response from Botswana.

Germany’s Environment Minister Steffi Lemke of the Green Party announced earlier this year that she intended to restrict the import of hunting trophies from protected animals due to concerns about poaching.

“It is easy to sit in Berlin and have an opinion on our affairs in Botswana. We are paying the price for the world and even the Lemke (Green) Party to protect these animals,” President Masisi said.

President Masisi painted a dire picture of the problem: “Herds of elephants are causing damage to property, eating crops and trampling residents.”

As a result, elephant overpopulation has led Botswana to resort to elephant hunting.

Therefore, a ban on the import of hunting trophies to Germany, one of the largest importers, may make the “plague” in Botswana even worse.

Germany’s Environment Minister Steffi Lemke of the Green Party announced earlier this year that she intended to restrict the import of hunting trophies from protected animals due to concerns about poaching.

“It is easy to sit in Berlin and have an opinion about our affairs in Botswana, and we are paying the price for the world to protect these animals,” President Masisi said of possible restrictions in Germany.

Masisi claimed that Botswana has done more “than any other country in the world” to protect wildlife and invited German Minister Lemke to inspect the country’s wildlife protection situation.

“We want to offer Germany such a gift,” President Masisi declared without mincing words, referring to the prospect of sending thousands of elephants.

The southern African country, known for its Kalahari Desert, banned trophy hunting in 2014 but lifted the ban in 2019 after pressure from local communities.

Botswana, which is plagued by elephant plague, has donated 8,000 elephants to Angola and 500 elephants to Mozambique, but the country still has nearly 130,000 African ivory tusks.