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Why is Botswana threatening to send 20,000 elephants to Germany?
The president of Botswana said the country is paying the price for preserving these animals for the world.
REUTERS/Chalinee Thirasupa
Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi is threatening to send 20,000 elephants to Germany after the European country’s environment ministry called for limiting imports on hunted trophies. Why?
The facts
Masisi declared that the move would have a significant economic impact on his nation, which is being overrun by an exploding elephant population as a result of conservation efforts.
Herds of the massive animals have been destroying crops, causing property damage and trampling people, according to Masisi. Last year, an elephant herd trampled a Botswana soldier to death.
Hunting, he said, helps keep their numbers in check and provides critical sources of income for some residents. Germans should “live together with the animals, in the way you are trying to tell us to,” Masisi told. He also declared he was not joking.
The arguments
More than 130,000 elephants roam Botswana, a third of the world’s elephant population.
Botswana has previously given 8,000 elephants to countries like Angola and has offered hundreds more to Mozambique to keep the population down.
Botswana banned trophy hunting in 2014 but later lifted restrictions in 2019 after lobbying from local communities. There are now annual hunting quotas for those who have a license to kill the elephants.
Germany is the EU’s largest importer of African elephant trophies and hunting trophies overall.
France, Belgium and Australia are among the countries that have banned the hunting trophy trade.
A spokeswoman for Germany’s environmental ministry in Berlin declared in a press conference that Botswana had not brought up its concerns about the measure with German officials. “In light of the alarming loss of biological diversity, we have a special responsibility to do everything to ensure the import of hunting trophies is sustainable and legal,” she said.
The ministry, however, remains in talks with African countries affected by import rules, including Botswana, the spokeswoman said.
