He wanted to create a buzz. We can say that Mokgweetsi Masisi succeeded. In an interview published Wednesday April 3 in Bild, Germany's most widely read tabloid, the president of Botswana threatened to offer 20,000 elephants to Berlin so that "the Germans begin to understand what the Batswana experience on a daily basis."

“We would like to give such a gift to Germany,” he said. “It’s not a joke,” said the President of Botswana.

Im Streit mit den @Die_Gruenen und @SteffiLemke verschärft Botswanas President @OfficialMasisi @BWGovernment die Gangart. Er will throw 20,000 #Elefanten in free Wildbahn als Schenkung nach Deutschland abschieben, sagte er BILD. #Botswana https://t.co/x7iFf0olHV pic.twitter.com/9h6sVWkBaT

— Sebastian Geisler (@sgeisler_) April 2, 2024

In this interview, the African leader says that conservation efforts have led to an explosion in the number of elephants in his country over the past thirty years and that hunting is a good way to regulate the number of pachyderms.  

So when Berlin wants to ban the importation of hunting trophies, Gaborone sees red. "It is very easy to sit in Berlin and have an opinion about our affairs in Botswana. We are paying the price for the preservation of these animals for the whole world," said Mokgweetsi Masisi.

Barely larger than France, the southern African country of only 2.5 million inhabitants is an example of wildlife preservation: 40% of its territory is classified as protected natural areas and it alone has nearly a third of the world's elephant population, or 130,000 mammals.

Living with elephants

While the number of pachyderms has continued to decline on the African continent, it has tripled since the mid-1980s in Botswana. However, cohabitation between these 6-ton animals and the population is far from being smooth sailing. As elephants are not confined to reserves, they move freely, occasionally killing livestock, trampling crops or sometimes causing fatal incidents with humans. Daily life with elephants is particularly difficult in the Okavango Delta where thousands of villagers suffer the nuisance and dangers linked to the presence of protected wildlife.

Elephants cross a road in Kasane, in the Chobe district, northern Botswana, on May 28, 2019. © Monirul Bhuiyan, AFP

Under pressure from local communities, President Masisi decided to reintroduce hunting quotas in 2019 after five years of a total ban introduced to reverse the decline in elephant populations. With this decision, Botswana aligned itself with the practices of its neighbors such as Namibia and Zimbabwe, which authorize elephant hunting.

The stated objective was then to reduce the number of pachyderms and keep them away from villages. “Elephants are intelligent creatures and therefore avoided hunting areas as much as possible until hunting was banned,” explains Dilys Roe, president of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, interviewed by NBC .

But once the ban was in effect, elephants "not only re-entered these areas, but also ventured into adjacent agricultural lands, causing enormous damage to crops and livelihoods," adds the expert.

However, animal rights associations assure that other, much less expeditious means exist to control the populations of this iconic animal of biodiversity. Example with immunocontraception which blocks the fertilization of the egg in the female. An effective method which has become particularly widespread in South Africa. Furthermore, NGOs accuse hunting of disorganizing herds and increasing the risk of attacks. 

A license to kill at 35,000 euros

Beyond the issue of regulation, hunting is also a good way to bring foreign currencies into the country. In particular by focusing on high-end tourism, one of the most dynamic sectors of the economy after the exploitation of diamond mines of which Botswana is the second largest producer in the world.

Because elephant hunting is not accessible to all budgets. Transport, food, a team of several guides... wealthy clients must pay numerous costs, including an expensive hunting license amounting to several tens of thousands of dollars.

See alsoThanks to the fight against poaching, Kenya has doubled its elephant population

In 2020, the first sale of licenses carried out after the reintroduction of hunting brought in more than two million dollars to Botswana's public finances. There were seven lots authorizing the killing of ten elephants each, or 35,000 euros per head. 

Prices can soar for the rarest specimens. In 2022, a South African hunter paid $50,000 (around 46,000 euros at current rates) to kill a Tusker, an endangered elephant with very large tusks. A murderous safari which, at the time, caused a scandal.

Alert on Hyde Park

For several years, enthusiasts of hunting large African mammals have been in the sights of Brussels. Several European countries including France, the Netherlands and Belgium have banned the importation of trophies such as the heads, skins or tusks of protected animals.

Germany, Europe's largest importer of hunting trophies, could now follow suit. Earlier this year, Germany's environment minister raised the possibility of imposing stricter limits on the import of trophies in the name of environmental protection and the fight against poaching. 

“Given the alarming loss of biological diversity, we have a particular responsibility to do everything possible to ensure that the import of hunting trophies is sustainable and legal,” the German environment ministry told the Guardian. 

A decision which will impoverish Botswana, deplores its president in Bild. Here again, this argument is called into question by NGOs. Because the revenue generated by trophies hardly benefits local populations. If the southern African country ranks among the most prosperous nations on the continent with a GDP per capita of around $8,000, it is also one of the most unequal in the world. 

Despite President Masisi's angry blow, the presence of thousands of elephants taking a breath of fresh air on the banks of the Rhine or frolicking in the plains of Saxony is not for tomorrow. “There is currently no official request to transfer 20,000 elephants from Botswana to Germany,” a German government spokesperson commented soberly.

The president's far-fetched threat might have seemed more credible if Mokgweetsi Masisi had not made the same threat a few weeks ago. To protest against a vote by British MPs proposing a ban on the importation of trophies, he promised to send 10,000 pachyderms to Hyde Park. Unsurprisingly, London has still not seen the slightest horn on the horizon.

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