Botswana vows to send elephants to Germany in hunting row
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00:00 But swanna is overflowing with elephants.
00:04 Thanks to conservation efforts, the country is home to some 130,000 of them, making up
00:09 a third of the world's elephant population.
00:13 A success story to be sure.
00:15 The many in Botswana have come to regard the massive creatures as a huge menace to property,
00:21 crops and even human life.
00:24 So when Germany's environment minister suggested imposing stricter limits on hunting trophies,
00:29 Botswana's president had some choice words.
00:32 Speaking to a German newspaper, Magwitsi Macisi threatened to export 20,000 elephants to
00:38 Germany saying, quote, "If you like them so much, then please accept this gift from us."
00:43 And adding, "This is no joke."
00:46 Macisi says his country is paying the price for the world's conservation efforts and that
00:51 bans on hunting trophies hamper wildlife conservation, make anti-poaching efforts harder and impoverish
00:58 residents who depend on tourism.
01:01 Adult elephants have no real natural predators in Botswana.
01:05 And in an effort to control the population, the country has exported 8,000 of them to
01:09 neighboring Angola.
01:10 Also, as of 2019, for a hefty price, foreigners can buy a permit to hunt an elephant and take
01:16 its head or skin home as a trophy, a practice denounced by animal rights groups.
01:22 Germany is the largest importer of elephant trophies in the E.U., a practice banned by
01:27 others in the bloc, including France and Belgium.
01:31 Last month, Botswana's wildlife minister made a similar threat to send 10,000 elephants
01:36 to London's Hyde Park, as the U.K. argues over its own restrictions on hunting trophies.
01:44 As the West debates a practice considered cruel by many, Botswana is eager for outsiders
01:49 to be like it, unable to ignore the elephant in the room.
01:54 (water splashing)