At the beginning of this year, the German Ministry of the Environment proposed tightening the limits for the import of trophies from hunted animals, the BBC News server reported. But as Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi told German media, such regulation would make the people of his country poorer.
The president said elephant numbers have skyrocketed as a result of conservation efforts and hunting is helping to keep the numbers under control. It is also an important source of income for the locals, as well as the tourism associated with it.
Germans should “live together with animals as you are trying to order us to do,” Masisi told Germany’s Bild newspaper, stressing that “this is not a joke.”
Botswana banned trophy hunting, which animal rights groups are calling for, in 2014. Five years later, however, it lifted the restrictions after pressure from local communities. The country now issues annual quotas for hunting, which provides local people with a source of income so they are less tempted to poach wild animals. Hunting is subject to licenses and is strictly controlled, according to Botswana authorities.
There are more elephants in Botswana than the country can handle. The herds cause property damage, eat crops and trample residents, the president explained. Regulated hunting helps reduce the elephant population there.
Botswana has already donated 8,000 elephants to neighboring Angola, and Mozambique is to take over hundreds of other animals.
“We would like to offer such a gift to Germany as well,” said Masisi. Botswana already made a similar offer to Germany in March to London, where it wanted to send 10,000 elephants due to the threat of a ban on hunting for the British, writes The Guardian.
Tags: joke Botswanas president threatens send elephants Germany
