Europeans care more about elephants than people, says Botswana president
Patrick Greenfield, The Guardian
April 17, 2024
See link
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/apr/17/europeans-care-more-about-elephants-than-people-says-botswana-president-aoe
for photos.
Many Europeans value the lives of elephants more than those of the people
who live around them, the president of Botswana has said, amid tensions
over potential trophy hunting import bans.
Botswana recently threatened to send 30,000 elephants to the UK and Germany
after both countries proposed stricter controls on hunting trophies. The
country’s president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, said it would help people to
understand human-wildlife conflict – which is among the primary threats to
the species – including the experiences of subsistence farmers affected by
crop-raiding by the animals.
Speaking to the Guardian on Wednesday, Masisi said: “I get the sense that
they [Europeans] think these elephants are pets. I get the sense that many
think these elephants are human beings, and a majority would perceive the
value of these elephants as superior to human life in Botswana.
“Why don’t you for a moment experience living with them? That’s why this
offer was made to yourselves to have them in Hyde Park,” he said.
Masisi’s comments come amid heightened tensions between anti-trophy
activists in Europe and Africa and those who say that regulated hunting is
helpful for elephant conservation in some cases: allowing tourists to kill
a small number of animals for thousands of dollars can provide livelihoods
for local people and ensure habitats are not converted for agriculture.
The UK government has committed to delivering a ban on the import of
hunting trophies. A ban almost passed last year but was scuppered in the
Lords after it had passed all Commons stages.
While trophy hunting has provoked widespread revulsion from the British
public and celebrity campaigners, using it as part of broader conservation
strategies has been shown to help wildlife and tackle poaching. Masisi said
Botswana, home of the world’s largest elephant population, allowed trophy
hunting by democratic choice and said European countries telling his
country how to manage its elephant population should provide alternatives
to hunting.
“We are only human beings. Those Europeans, if they lived among elephants
like we do, they would respond exactly the same way. Perhaps they might be
more brutal, because they have a much stronger gun culture than we do,” he
said.
Human-wildlife conflict is on the rise in many parts of Africa, and
threatening some species with extinction. Dozens of people are thought to
be killed by elephants every year across the continent, with thousands of
instances of crop-raiding and other forms of conflict.
“Imagine … you try to gather your goats at night, when you stumble upon an
elephant and it charges. You cannot outrun an elephant,” he said. “You get
squashed like when you squash potato when you mash it. I’m trying to use an
expression so those who eat fish and chips or mashed potatoes might
understand. It’s pretty dreary,” Masisi said.
Masisi said he hoped that celebrity anti-trophy campaigners would spend
time with communities affected by human-wildlife conflict to properly
understand the problems elephants can cause.
“I’m not faulting them for being famous and being celebrities. We respect
them, we love them. But not at the expense of our lives.”
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/apr/17/europeans-care-more-about-elephants-than-people-says-botswana-president-aoe
Europeans care more about elephants than people, says Botswana president
Patrick Greenfield, The Guardian
April 17, 2024
See link
<https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/apr/17/europeans-care-more-about-elephants-than-people-says-botswana-president-aoe>
for photos.
Many Europeans value the lives of elephants more than those of the people
who live around them, the president of Botswana has said, amid tensions
over potential trophy hunting import bans.
Botswana recently threatened to send 30,000 elephants to the UK and Germany
after both countries proposed stricter controls on hunting trophies. The
country’s president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, said it would help people to
understand human-wildlife conflict – which is among the primary threats to
the species – including the experiences of subsistence farmers affected by
crop-raiding by the animals.
Speaking to the Guardian on Wednesday, Masisi said: “I get the sense that
they [Europeans] think these elephants are pets. I get the sense that many
think these elephants are human beings, and a majority would perceive the
value of these elephants as superior to human life in Botswana.
“Why don’t you for a moment experience living with them? That’s why this
offer was made to yourselves to have them in Hyde Park,” he said.
Masisi’s comments come amid heightened tensions between anti-trophy
activists in Europe and Africa and those who say that regulated hunting is
helpful for elephant conservation in some cases: allowing tourists to kill
a small number of animals for thousands of dollars can provide livelihoods
for local people and ensure habitats are not converted for agriculture.
The UK government has committed to delivering a ban on the import of
hunting trophies. A ban almost passed last year but was scuppered in the
Lords after it had passed all Commons stages.
While trophy hunting has provoked widespread revulsion from the British
public and celebrity campaigners, using it as part of broader conservation
strategies has been shown to help wildlife and tackle poaching. Masisi said
Botswana, home of the world’s largest elephant population, allowed trophy
hunting by democratic choice and said European countries telling his
country how to manage its elephant population should provide alternatives
to hunting.
“We are only human beings. Those Europeans, if they lived among elephants
like we do, they would respond exactly the same way. Perhaps they might be
more brutal, because they have a much stronger gun culture than we do,” he
said.
Human-wildlife conflict is on the rise in many parts of Africa, and
threatening some species with extinction. Dozens of people are thought to
be killed by elephants every year across the continent, with thousands of
instances of crop-raiding and other forms of conflict.
“Imagine … you try to gather your goats at night, when you stumble upon an
elephant and it charges. You cannot outrun an elephant,” he said. “You get
squashed like when you squash potato when you mash it. I’m trying to use an
expression so those who eat fish and chips or mashed potatoes might
understand. It’s pretty dreary,” Masisi said.
Masisi said he hoped that celebrity anti-trophy campaigners would spend
time with communities affected by human-wildlife conflict to properly
understand the problems elephants can cause.
“I’m not faulting them for being famous and being celebrities. We respect
them, we love them. But not at the expense of our lives.”
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/apr/17/europeans-care-more-about-elephants-than-people-says-botswana-president-aoe