Botswana’s president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, on Tuesday, threatened to send 20,000 elephants to Germany amid a trophy hunting dispute.

The president made the threat while speaking in an interview with the German tabloid Bild, as a result of the German environment ministry’s request to ban the import of trophies despite Botswana’s overpopulation of elephants.

The German Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety, and Consumer Protection, Steffi Lemke, earlier this year, suggested the possibility of stricter limits on the import of hunting trophies due to poaching concerns in the country.

“Twenty thousand elephants for Germany, this is not a joke,” Mr Masisi said, adding, “It is very easy to sit in Berlin and have an opinion about our affairs in Botswana. We are paying the price for preserving these animals for the world – and even for Lemke’s party.”

The Botswana president told Germany, “Live together with the animals, in the way you are trying to tell us to.”

While complaining about the overpopulation of animals in the country, Mr Masisi disclosed that Botswana has already offered 8,000 elephants to Angola and another 500 to Mozambique as a means to reduce the population of the animals, and Mozambique is to collect the elephants.

He said that through the conservation of animals, Botswana has seen its elephant population grow to 130,000, and their continuous increase has led to people being trampled to death or injured while also damaging buildings and crops.

Further arguing that a ban on the import of hunting trophies would only impoverish Botswanans, Masisi claimed that Botswana had sacrificed more to protect wildlife “than any other country in the world” and invited Ms Lemke to inspect wildlife protection in his country.

“We would like to offer such a gift to Germany,” Mr Masisi said to Bild, adding that he would “not take no for an answer”.

The president has also recently criticised a proposed ban on trophy hunting imports to the UK, describing it not only as “condescending” but also as a “resurgence of a colonial conquest.”

Meanwhile, Botswana banned trophy hunting in 2014 to aid in the recovery of diminishing elephant populations due to poaching and habitat loss.

However, the government revoked the ban in 2019 after pressure from local communities. Since then, an annual hunting quota has been instituted to control the nation’s expanding elephant population.

Also, following Mr Masisi’s statements, the German government said Botswana has not formally voiced concerns about its policy, but it felt obliged to take action against the import of hunting trophies due to an “alarming loss of biological diversity.”