![](https://img.semafor.com/fb1dd5f0bffc2de06dfa0add879cf08a1aa2b5c0-1066x1292.jpg?w=1152&h=1396&q=95&auto=format) Botswana offered to send 20,000 elephants to Germany. The possibly tongue-in-cheek offer was a response to the German environment minister calling for stricter limits on imports of hunting trophies. Elephants, which have few natural predators, damage property and crops, and sometimes kill people. Botswana exports them, but also offers hunting licenses, both to control numbers and to attract tourism. Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi said elephant numbers in the country have exploded thanks to conservation — 40% of its land is nature reserve, and it is now home to 130,000 animals, about a third of the world’s total. Masisi told Bild that Germans should “live together with the animals, in the way you are trying to tell us to,” adding that he was “dead serious.” |