By Nadine Schmidt, Sarah Dean and Ingrid Formanek, CNN

BERLIN — Botswana's President Mokgweetsi Masisi has threatened to send 20,000 elephants to Germany amid a dispute over the import of hunting trophies.

"This is not a joke," Masisi told German tabloid Bild.

The African leader criticized the German government — particularly the environment ministry — for seeking to ban the import of trophies despite Botswana's "overpopulation" of elephants.

Earlier this year, Germany's environment ministry, which is headed up by Steffi Lemke of the Green party, raised the possibility of stricter limits on the import of hunting trophies due to poaching concerns.

Masisi told Bild that Germany's Green party could learn to cohabitate with elephants without hunting them.

"It is very easy to sit in Berlin and have an opinion about our affairs in Botswana. We are paying the price for preserving these animals for the world — and even for Lemke's party," Masisi said.

Germans should try to "live together with the animals, in the way you are trying to tell us to," he added.

According to Masisi, Botswana has seen its elephant population grow to some 130,000.

To tackle the country's "overpopulation" of the animals, Botswana has already offered 8,000 elephants to Angola and another 500 to Mozambique, Masisi said, adding that Mozambique had yet to collect the elephants.

"We would like to offer such a gift to Germany," Masisi told Bild, adding that he would "not take no for an answer."

Botswana's president argued that conservation efforts have led to an explosion in the elephant population, and hunting is an "important means to keep them in check."

Masisi said that elephants were trampling people to death, eating crops and causing damage to villages, and a ban on the import of hunting trophies would only impoverish Botswanans.

Masisi claimed that his country does more to protect wildlife "than any other country in the world," and invited the German minister to inspect wildlife protection in his country.

CNN has contacted Botswana's Ministry of Environment and Tourism for comment.

The southern African nation banned trophy hunting in 2014 to help declining elephant numbers recover from poaching and shrinking habitats.

https://www.ksl.com/article/50969970/botswana-threatens-to-send-20000-elephants-to-germany-in-trophy-hunting-dispute