Botswana threatened to send 20,000 elephants to Germany
The BBC Broadcasting Corporation, citing German media, reported that the President of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi, threatened to send 20,000 elephants to Germany after the German government announced its intention to impose stricter limits on the import of hunting trophies, TASS reports
Mokgweetsi Masisi stated that Botswana ‘would like to make a gift to Germany’ and added that the intention to send 20,000 elephants to Germany ‘is not a joke’. Mr. Masisi also noted, “Germans should live with animals the way they are trying to teach Botswana.”
Currently, 130,000 elephants (a third of the world's elephant population) live in the wild in Botswana. The animals create problems for the country's agricultural sector. They are destroying crops on farms. Therefore, many people are asking to reduce the number of elephants. Meanwhile, according to the Botswana authorities, restrictions imposed by certain Western countries on elephant hunting and the import of hunting trophies only exacerbate the problem. Germany is the EU's largest importer of hunting trophies.
