The president of Botswana Mokgweetsi Masisi has threatened to send 20,000 elephants to Germany in a political dispute.

Earlier this year, Germany’s environment ministry suggested there should be stricter limits on importing hunting trophies, but the Botswana president told German media Bild that this move by Germany would only impoverish Botswanans.

Masisi said elephant numbers had exploded as a result of conservation efforts, and hunting helped keep them in check.

Botswana is home to about a third of the world’s elephant population – more than 130,000, and the herds were said to be causing damage to property, eating crops and trampling residents.

Botswana has previously given 8,000 elephants to countries such as Angola, and has offered hundreds more to Mozambique, as a means of bringing the population down.