Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi has threatened to send 20,000 elephants to Germany over a dispute over the import of hunting trophies.
Masisi is particularly dissatisfied with the behavior of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of Germany, headed by Steffi Lemke from the Green Party. The discontent is caused by Germany’s intention to ban the import of animal trophies despite Botswana having a large number of elephants.
“It is very easy to sit in Berlin and have an opinion about what is happening in Botswana. We are paying the price of preserving these animals for the world,” said Masisi.
According to him, there are almost 130,000 elephants in Botswana, of which 8,000 have already been sent to Angola. He indicated that they want to offer it to Germany as well and that they will not take “no” as an answer.
“We want our elephants to move freely. The German weather is bad enough for them. If you like them so much, please accept this gift from us,” he adds.
The authorities of Botswana had previously expressed their displeasure over the possibility that Great Britain would also ban the import of trophies. Then they threatened to send 10,000 elephants to London’s Hyde Park.
The international organization for the protection of animals PETA supports the possible ban on the import of trophies. They noted that trophy hunting is a hobby of the rich, “people who have more money than morals.”
“Terribly large sums of money, which amateur hunters pay for hunting, do not end up with the poor population or the national park administration, but almost exclusively in the pockets of travel agencies and hunting farm owners,” said PETA.
They believe that Botswana should completely ban trophy hunting and rely on other forms of tourism. On the other hand, the president of Botswana described the situation with elephants as serious. Elephants trampled over people, destroyed crops and villages. He claims that his country is doing more on this issue than any other country in the world and that banning the import of trophies would deepen poverty, writes the foreign policy newspaper Politico.
