"Not A Joke": Botswana Threatens To Send Thousands Of Elephants To Germany

Mr Maisi said Germans should "live together with the animals, in the way you are trying to tell us to". "This is not a joke," he added.

Botswana has threatened to send 20,000 elephants to Germany amid a dispute over the import of hunting trophies. According to The Guardian, the dispute between the two countries began earlier this year when Germany's environment ministry, citing concerns about poaching, suggested imposing stricter limits on the import of hunting trophies. Notably, Germany is the European Union's (EU) chief importer of African elephant trophies, as per a 2021 report by the Humane Society International. A ban on the import of hunting trophies would only impoverish Botswana, President Mokgweetsi Masisi said on Tuesday. 

The African leader argued that conservation efforts have led to an explosion in the number of elephants and increased man-animal conflict. Hunting is an important means to keep them in check, Mr Masisi said, as per the outlet. 

Botswana, home to the world's largest elephant population, banned trophy hunting in 2014 but lifted the restrictions in 2019 under pressure from local communities. Now, the country issues annual hunting quotas.