Masisi glad UK trophy hunting ban bill failed
Mompati Tlhankane | Monday October 2, 2023 06:00
Before the failure, the bill which was blocked by a small group of peers recently had passed all Commons stages and appeared set to be approved by the Lords.
But in an ambush that prompted widespread anger, 11 peers made the bill run out of time by tabling more than 60 amendments they insisted on debating individually.
While some in the UK are disappointed at the move Masisi at yesterday’s press conference following his external travels to many countries among them Germany said he is happy that the attempt to promulgate an act that stops countries like Botswana from trading trophies has failed.
“We are very happy it failed because this is our sustainable economic product that we have managed better than anybody else in the world. Why should we be denied to trade our economic product,” Masisi further added. He questioned if Botswana had ever denied any country to trade in sustainable economic products that they have.
Masisi pointed out that when one castigates hunting and make it akin to butchering, murder, and bloodthirstiness, it is plainly not true. “You all know our people and society, we are not that. And more than anything else it is better than shooting the whales into near extinction. It is better than butchering the seals. It is better than the annual fox hunts and decimation of other deer,” he emphasised.
Masisi further defended trophy hunting saying it is not a sport of bloody proportions but rather an economic engagement that also fulfils the livelihoods of our people. When it was announced that Members of Parliament in the UK voted to support a controversial ban in March, Botswana government was irked by the developments that was to prevent British hunters from bringing the body parts of lions, elephants, and giraffes into the country, the majority of which are coming from Africa.
“If the Bill is passed by Parliament, it will affect Botswana's wildlife management. The importation ban of legally harvested wildlife trophies will negatively impact wildlife authorities including Professional Hunting Associations and Community-Based Support Organisations from across Africa, thereby drastically reducing hunting incentives for Britons to hunt abroad, primarily in Africa,” Botswana government shared then in a press statement. The government emphasized then that hunting is a key component of sustainable use approaches to wildlife conservation in Botswana. The government added that hunting has underpinned many of the varied community-based natural resources management programmes that work towards more equitable, fair, and inclusive biodiversity conservation and as such Botswana has earned international accolades for its sterling efforts to conserve and manage its wildlife resources. “This hard-won reputation is a result of the implementation of wildlife management practices and strategies that stretch back several decades and that continues to this day. This has been sustainable because of our governance system and conservation strategies that focus on the broader ecosystem rather than isolated issues.”