Botswana’s president has told Sky News that anti-hunting bills introduced by British MPs are not only “condescending” but “a resurgence of colonial conquest”.

Ministers are to discuss a proposal to ban British wildlife hunters from taking home body parts of animals they shoot, such as ivory.

President Mokwezi Masisi said he would be “disgusted, disappointed and upset” if the bill was passed, stressing Botswana’s right to autonomy as a democratic and sovereign republic.

Mr Masisi defended trophy hunting on Yalda Hakim’s World, saying ‘you can choose which one’ [animal] You hunt” and “culling” has the connotation of “moral abomination” associated with it.

The president clarified that the cull is “the indiscriminate elimination of an entire herd, including mother, father and grandfather” – which is “different from hunting.”

earlier, Botswana Environment and Tourism Minister Dumezweni Mtimkulu said trophy hunting was a way to control wildlife populations in the country and was a source of income for communities.

Politicians in African countries are reportedly threatening to send 10,000 wild elephants to Hyde Park to show Britons what it’s like to live with them.

Asked if his country really intended to do this, Mr Mthemhuru told Sky News’ Kay Burley Breakfast it was a “verbal offer to the British” so they could understand his people problems faced.

He said Botswana’s elephant population has almost “tripled” from 50,000 in 1984 to 130,000 in 2024, causing “a lot of chaos” and “constant conflicts between animals and humans”.

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He said scientists suggested the sustainable population in natural habitat was 50,000.

Mr Mtimkulu said the UK bill would be “counterproductive” and “disincentivize people who live with these animals from protecting them”.

He invited British politicians to come and “witness” the “destruction”, adding that he had been told by the former England footballer Gary Lineker Also in favor of ban.

The Match of the Day host previously called the practice “truly abhorrent” in a social media post.

“I would like to invite him to come to Botswana so that he can really understand and learn about elephant… trophy hunting in this country,” Mr Mtimhuru said.

The minister said he did not understand why some people in other countries found such pursuits abhorrent.

He said his government supported trophy hunting because it was “controlled” and “good for our people.”

“Trophy hunting, culling, is part of the approach to protecting these animals,” he said.

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The minister said the numbers of all species in his country are increasing every day and every year, not declining.

“It shows that conservation work is going well and that this conservation work is closely linked to trophy hunting, which helps the community and provides them with a source of income,” he said.

Depriving them of these incomes would “disincentivize” them from caring for wildlife and could lead to a demand for land – set aside for conservation – for farming and other income-generating activities, he said.

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Big game hunting prohibited Lifted in Botswana 2019 There are claims that the elephant population is affecting the livelihoods of small-scale farmers.

In some areas of the country, there are more elephants than people, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The bill to be debated by MPs on Friday is a private member’s bill led by Labor MP John Spellar. It is unclear at this stage whether the government will provide support.

The 2019 Conservative manifesto promised to introduce a ban, and the government late last year said it remained committed to introducing one.