Botswana threatens to send 20,000 elephants to Germany

Botswana threatens to send 20,000 , as Berlin criticizes the hunting of obese and the export of “tropies” continued by the African country. “The Germans must live with animals, they try to dictate to us,” said Botswana president Moguichi Massisi, according to “Bild”. “It’s not funny,” he added, referring to his “offer” to send 20,000 elephants to Germany. “We would like to make this gift to Germany” and “I do not accept its rejection,” he stressed. In Botswana, an enclosed country in southern Africa, is home to the largest elephant population in the world, some 130,000 animals. Co-existence with humans is often difficult, according to the president who spoke of attacks by obese people on villages and crops. The criticism brought by the German Ministry of the Environment aimed at hunting trophies offered to wealthy Western customers. The ministry even mentioned the possibility that the introduction of such trophies would be severely restricted to combat poaching of protected species. Commenting on President Massisi’s “gift”, the ministry replied that Botswana has not yet contacted him on this issue. In 2019 Botswana lifted the full ban on hunting, imposed five years earlier to address the decline in elephant and other species population. This lifting caused the wrath of the ecologists. Hunting is also an important source of income for locals. Since then, Botswana has decided annually how many animals are allowed to be killed by hunters. Last year he donated 8,000 elephants to Angola and in 2022 he gave 500 to Mozambique.