Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi has threatened to send 20,000 elephants to Germany as the countries argue over the import of hunting trophies

https://www.politico.eu/article/botswana-president-mokgweetsi-masisi-threatens-deport-20000-elephants-germany/

by N0WAY411

18 comments

  1. Then Germany will send 100.000 pretzels to Botswana!

  2. I wonder how many Botswanian annual GDPs it would cost to achieve this endeavor.

  3. I kind of want to see this happen, just to see how Botswana overcomes the logistical challenges of shipping 20,000 elephants to a different continent.

  4. >Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was unavailable for comment. Cough.

  5. So this is why in some job interviews they ask what you’d do with an elephant that you can’t gift or sell. I always thought that question wasabit absurd, but I guess as a diplomat you need to be prepared for this specific scenario…

  6. I’d like to image Mokgweetsi standing on the side of the road next to the Bundestag, waving a large beeping truck containing 20.000 elephants into the yard. 

    “Come on, easy does it, easy does it! Just a little further!” 

    While Scholz screams from the window. “For fuck’s sake guys.. Schluss damit!”

  7. From the linked (German) article in [Bild](https://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/politik-ausland/botswana-will-20-000-elefanten-nach-deutschland-abschieben-87716972.bild.html):
    > Präsident Mokgweetsi Masisi (61) hat die Faxen dicke. Wenn die Grünen alles besser wissen, sollen sie und Lemke zeigen, wie man ohne Jagd mit Elefanten zusammenlebt, meint er. Angebot: „20 000 wilde Elefanten für Deutschland. Das ist kein Scherz“, so Masisi zu BILD.

    Roughly translates to:
    > President Mokgweetsi Masisi has had enough. When the Greens know better, they and Lemke should see how you live with elephants without hunting, he says. Offer: “20.000 wild elephants for Germany. That is no joke”, sais Masisi zu BILD.

  9. Shouldn’t something like this already be managed by CITES? Seems like there’s some redundance going on.

  10. I don’t know! The last time an African leader sent elephants to Europe it didn’t work out so well for his country!

  11. People like to make fun but he’s not wrong when he says Botswana is suffering preserving these animals for the world. 130k elephants are no joke.

    Conservation should be a planetary thing.

    Germany, like most western European countries has exterminated most of the wildlife on it’s territory. You can walk in the forest without a care.

    I love animals, but I don’t think we have the right to dictate what others should do. Not without helping them.

  12. This caused me to look up how many African Elephants there actually are…

  14. I know people are having a laugh here, but after seeing what these countries have to deal with when there are so many elephants around. I’d probably just leave

  16. I think he has a great way of arguing.
    Send them elephants over to the greens party office in Stuttgard, Frankfurt and Berlin.

    Put them in those fancy green voting suburbs .

  17. And everyone here in Germany who is waiting for grilling season to start:

    “Yes free meat”

  18. Let’s not ignore this is a hissy fit because germany exercises its right to regulate its imports on goods and does not deem hunting trophies a worthwhile one.
    None is preventing Botswana from hunting elephants if they need to, just German tourists cannot bring their “exploits” home

Leave a Reply