Botswana threatens to send 20,000 elephants to 'roam free' in Germany

Botswana's President Mokgweetsi Masisi threatened in an interview with the German magazine Bild this week to send 20,000 elephants to Germany to "roam free," following the German government's support for policies against trophy hunting in Africa. 

Botswana, home to about 130,000 elephants, uses trophy hunting as a means of keeping the elephant population manageable, Masisi said, adding that herds of elephants have caused property damage, as well as eat crops and trample humans. 

If Germany loves the animals so much, then Germans should "live together with the animals," Masisi said, adding, "This is not a a joke." 

Masisi's statement follows similar comments by the country's wildlife minister, Dumezweni Mthimkhulu, who last month threatened to send 10,000 elephants to Hyde Park in London so that Brits could "have a taste of living alongside" them. 

Comments come amid row over trophy hunting

Germany is the largest importer of African elephant hunting trophies, leading animal welfare groups to put pressure on the government to restrict the practice.

Although legal elephant hunting is not seen as a threat to the species' numbers, many object on principle to killing the animals for sport. Elephants are believed to be as intelligent as dolphins and chimpanzees and, in addition to other complex social behaviors, are known to grieve and bury their dead.