By: Michael Borell
Botswana is home to the world’s largest elephant population, hosting over 130,000 African bush elephants within its border. The country is said to be one of the last strongholds for the elephants, yet at the same time is facing on overpopulation of the animal. Their newest tactic to handle the issue? Sending 20,000 wild elephants to Germany.
On April 3rd, 2024, Botswana threatened to send the wild elephants in response to a push by the German environment ministry to ban the import of elephant trophies. The movement, joining other European countries such as the United Kingdom and Belgium and even the United States, seeks to curb poaching by restricting the transport of animal parts as souvenirs. Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi explained his action, stating it was “not a joke,” and that “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.” Botswana has previously extended a similar offer to the United Kingdom after a proposed trophy import ban, as well as donating 8,00 elephants to Angola and 500 to Mozambique. Since 1984, the elephant population in Botswana has tripled, and the country has devoted 40% of its land for the conservation of the elephants. Although Botswana is referred to as a success story for its conservation efforts, the country is facing an overpopulation crisis. Botswana’s ecological carrying capacity, or the availability of resources in the environment that limits the size of a population that can be supported, is only 60,000—less than half of the 130,000 elephant population. The overpopulation has resulted in increased conflicts with human life, including vegetation damage, attacks on livestock, and trampling.
Trophy hunting has a divisive history with Botswana. In 2014, the country outright banned the activity as part of a conservation effort to help a decline in the elephant population resulting from poaching and habitat shrinking. However, in 2019—just five years later—the ban was lifted. For those five years, locals had protested the ban, claiming it led to a loss of income, damaged crops, and the death of livestock. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group (“IUCN”), the elephants which normally steered clear of hunting zones had not only re-inhabited the areas, but also ventured out to adjacent farmland causing huge damage. As far back as 2012, the IUCN has endorsed trophy hunting as a conservation tool, pointing out that it has the potential to create equitable net conservation benefits for co-existence between humans and wildlife. Masisi argues that trophy hunting is important to keep in check the extreme population growth caused by Botswana’s conservation methods.
Masisi offered the German Federal Environment minister to inspect Botswana’s wildlife protection policies. According to the president, Botswana does more than any other country, with policies that both protect wildlife and benefit the country. Botswana uses a variety of methods, including a zero-tolerance policy, and multiple community based natural resource management programs. The programs “create incentives for communities to conserve wildlife and habitats, as well as to mitigate human-wildlife conflict through compensation schemes, education campaigns, and coexistence strategies.” Ecotourism, which emphasizes ethical hunting practices, provides a significant funding source for these conservation efforts.
If Germany’s push reaches across the European Union, Europe’s number one importer of hunting trophies would be disincentivized from traveling to Botswana. This presents a large problem for Botswana’s economy, as it relies on these hunting trips to pay for its conservation efforts. Hunters pay prices of up to $50,000 per elephant killed, and in 2021 trophy hunting brought $5 million to Botswanan communities. The IUCN has described trophy hunting as not threatening to the survival of a species as a whole, and that trophy hunting can help add value to the wildlife. This added value can help increase the tolerance of the locals to put up with hosting what can be dangerous wild animals at their doorstep. The World Wildlife Fund is another international non-governmental organization working for wilderness preservation, and has expressed that they are not opposed to hunting so long as it brings revenue to conservation and is locally managed. Experts believe that instituting a ban on trophy hunting will ultimately do more harm to conservation efforts than good, and have expressed that the international community should instead be focused on hunting reforms instead of prohibition.
The German Association for Animal Welfare has called the new plan long overdue, with reports arguing that allowing trophy hunting exacerbates societal inequalities. Animal rights organizations such as PETA have shown support for hunting limitations, arguing that the economic benefits supposedly originating from these hunts are not given to the population or national park administration, but into the pockets of tour operators and hunting farm owners. Organizations like the Humane Society further argue that trophy hunting negatively impacts animal social systems, killing the strongest in the herd and putting the rest of the pack at risk. These financial and wildlife preservation concerns have joined the general ethical dilemma of killing animals for sport, fueling the debate that hunting as an industry has issues. The Environmental Investigation Agency, for example, described it as largely self-regulated, lacking transparency, and open to rogue behavior.
With this overpopulation of elephants, Botswana is facing a biodiversity crisis. An international movement towards increased restrictions on trophy hunting, countries may be harming the same creatures they wish to protect. Botswana holds that restricting the import of trophies will harm conservation efforts as without this legal route, illegal poaching will increase. With this increase, they are no longer in control of the conservation measures, which can reduce wildlife habitats and reduce overall income for Botswana. Germany’s own Nuremburg Zoo director Dag Encke commented, “[w]here trophy hunting works well-as in without corruption—it could be a great contribution to species conservation as well as a great source of income for nature conservation.” The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, serves as an example of a multinational effort working to control trophy hunting. No conservation efforts have been shown to work at the same level as hunting tourism. Although Germany would be helping Botswana by taking in the 20,000 elephants, it may be in their best interests to look towards other methods to help preserve the animal’s safety.
