CNN —Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi has threatened to send 20,000 elephants to Germany amid a dispute over the import of hunting trophies. ”Twenty thousand elephants for Germany, this is not a joke,” Masisi told German tabloid Bild. Lenin Nolly/Sipa USA/AP/FileMasisi told Bild that Germany’s Green party could learn to cohabitate with elephants without hunting them. According to the ministry, Germany is one of the largest importers of hunting trophies in the European Union, and African hunting trophies already require import authorization under current rules. Trophy hunting does not come close to diminishing the elephant population, Masisi told broadcaster Sky News.

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Persons: CNN —, Mokgweetsi Masisi, ” Masisi, –, Steffi Lemke, Lenin, Masisi, ”, Murat Ozgur Guvendik, “, ” Botswana’s, Botswana’s, Iris Throm, Mary Rice, Rice, Bild, you’d Organizations: CNN, Green, Getty, Botswana’s Ministry of Environment, Tourism, European Union, Germany’s Federal Agency for Nature, Environmental Investigation Agency, Sky News, Convention, International Trade, Fauna Locations: Germany, Berlin, Botswana, Masisi, Anadolu, Angola, Mozambique