21st century Hannibal? The president of an African state threatens to send 20,000 elephants to Germany. Mokgweetsi Masisi: “It’s not a joke”

“It’s not a joke,” the president told the German tabloid BILD on Tuesday.

Masisi attacked the German federal government, and in particular the environment ministry, led by Greens minister Steffi Lemke, for trying to ban trophy imports despite Botswana’s elephant overpopulation.

“It is very easy to sit in Berlin and have an opinion about our business in Botswana. We are paying the price to preserve these animals for the world,” he declared.

Botswana, which is home to about 130,000 elephants, according to the president, has already sent 8,000 elephants to Angola. “We would like to make such an offer to the Federal Republic of Germany as well”announced Masisi. “We will not accept a refusal”.

“We want our elephants to roam free. If you like them so much, then please accept this gift from us,” he added.

The president of Botswana has described the situation of elephants in his country as serious. Elephants destroy crops and devastate villages.

He also invited Environment Minister Berlin to inspect wildlife protection in Botswana. His country does more “than any other country in the world”, he emphasized, adding that a measure to ban the import of trophies would worsen poverty.

Animal rights group PETA is contradicting the Botswana president and backing his plans to restrict and possibly ban imports, calling trophy hunting “a hobby of rich and blasé people who have more money than morals”.

“The appalling sums that amateur hunters spend on a hunting trip do not go to the poor or to a national park administration, but almost exclusively to the pockets of tour operators and game farm owners,” said a spokesman for PETA for POLITICO.

Botswana should completely ban trophy hunting and instead rely on photo tourism to generate income, the spokesman added, stressing that live animals would do more for the country’s image.