This archive of published media articles about wildlife crime in Namibia aims to:
Public access to information is a vital component of ensuring community engagement in prevalent issues. Wildlife crime is one of the pressing environmental issues of our time.
Wildlife crime investigations are generally covert operations requiring utmost confidentiality to succeed. Investigations and prosecutions in complex cases may take months or even years to complete. For this reason, the information that can be released to the public without compromising cases is often limited. Nonetheless, the Namibian government strives to share as much information as possible with the public.
The Namibian media has welcomed this approach and regularly publishes statistics and feature articles on wildlife crime. These are entered into the database at regular intervals, creating a comprehensive archive of wildlife crime reporting in Namibia.
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Environmentalists in Namibia have accused local wildlife officials of hiding the real extent of rhino poaching in the Etosha National Park, which holds the highest concentration of black rhinos in the world. The Ministry of Environment recently acknowledged that rhino killings at the park quadrupled during the first quarter of 2024. Namibian police apprehended two suspects Sunday for the killing of an adult female black rhino and a medium-sized male calf black rhino at the park's waterhole earlier that day.
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NAM_2024_04_Namibia rhino poaching on rise in first quarter of 2024_Voice of America.pdf | 28.05 KB |
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NAM_2024_02_Judges order release of alleged poachers_Namibian Sun.pdf | 229.63 KB |
Die twee mans wat tereggestaan het op aanklagte van stropery, Hermanus Kharugab en Ashley Eiseb, is ingevolge 'n uitspraak in 'n hersieningsaansoek in die hoërhof in Windhoek vrygelaat. Eiseb, wat volgens 'n lid van die Nossob Misdaadvoorkomingsforum, 'n "groot probleem is", en Kharugab is in November verlede jaar in hegtenis geneem ná hulle glo 'n motor gehuur het om wild in die Okahandja-omgewing te stroop. Regters Boas Usiku en Naomi Shivute het die skuldigbevindings en vonnisse teen beide mans tersyde gestel en beveel dat hulle uit aanhouding vrygelaat moet word.
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NAM_2024_02_Gewoontestropers vrygelaat_Republikein.pdf | 446.08 KB |
NAM_2024_02_Habitual poachers released_Republikein_Eng.pdf | 769.4 KB |
Nachdem eine Anti-Wilderer-Einheit zwei Wilddiebe gefasst hatte, stellt sich heraus, dass sich diese scheinbaren Gewohnheitsverbrecher für zahlreiche Wilderei-Fälle oder sogar wegen versuchten Mordes im Gericht verantworten müssen. Staatsankläger scheinen die schwerwiegenden Vorwürfe kaum zu beachten, sodass die Angeklagten oft ungeschoren davonkommen.
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NAM_2023_11_Wilddiebe wiederholt Angeklagt_Allgemeine Zeitung.pdf | 388.85 KB |
NAM_2023_11_Poachers repeatedly charged_Allgemeine Zeitung_Eng.pdf | 423.46 KB |
"Dis 'n outjie wat ons al lankal pla. Hy is al vantevore op Seeis toegesluit omdat ons hom met 'n gesteelde 5 000 liter-tenk gevang het en daar was nog gemsbokke agterop die voertuig ook," sê die bron. Volgens die persoon is hulle groep ingelig oor ses stropers wat bedrywig was tussen Vrydag en Sondag.
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NAM_2023_11_Vermeende stropers verskyn weer vrydag_Republikein.pdf | 289.39 KB |
NAM_2023_11_Suspected poachers appear again on Friday_Republikein_Eng.pdf | 328.07 KB |
A charge of attempted murder has been reported to the police after a man was allegedly shot in the leg when police and conservation officers pursued three suspects. The suspects reportedly attempted to escape on foot in various directions, and warning shots were apparently fired in the process. One of the shots apparently hit one of the suspects. He was taken to the hospital, and the police seized the elephant tusks that the suspects allegedly poached.
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NAM_2023_05_Alleged poached shot in leg_Namibian Sun.pdf | 300.38 KB |
Die Verdächtigen sollen versucht haben, zu Fuß in verschiedene Richtungen zu fliehen, und dabei sollen Warnschüsse abgegeben worden sein. Einer der Schüsse soll einen der Verdächtigen getroffen haben. Er wurde ins Krankenhaus gebracht, und die Polizei beschlagnahmte die Elefantenstoßzähne, die die Verdächtigen angeblich gewildert hatten.
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NAM_2023_05_Mutmasslicher Wilderer mit Schuss ins Bein_Allgemeine Zeitung.pdf | 339.93 KB |
NAM_2023_Suspected poacher shot in the leg_Allgemeine Zeitung_Eng.pdf | 321.46 KB |
'n Klag van poging tot moord is by die polisie aangemeld ná 'n man glo in die been geskiet is toe polisieen bewaringsbeamptes van die omgewingsministerie drie verdagtes agtervolg het. Die verdagtes het glo in verskeie rigtings te voet probeer wegkom en in die proses is waarskuwingskote glo afgevuur. Een van die skoté het klaarblyklik een van die verdagtes getref. Hy is na die hospitaal geneem en polisie het beslag gelê op die olifanttande wat die verdagtes glo gestroop het.
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NAM_2023_05_Vermeende stroper in been geskiet_Republikein.pdf | 359.99 KB |
NAM_2023_05_Suspected poacher shot in the leg_Republikein_Eng.pdf | 354.69 KB |
Namibian authorities say poachers killed 87 rhinos last year, almost double the number killed in 2021 in a country that is home to the world's largest free roaming black rhino population. Conservationists say poachers seeking rhino horns for Asian markets are targeting Namibia's commercial farms. Simson Uri-Khob, chief executive officer of the Save the Rhino Trust, told VOA there have been almost no incidents of rhino poaching in Namibia's rhino conservancies for the past 30 months.
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NAM_2023_01_Namibian authorities concerned about increase in rhino poaching_VOA News.pdf | 226.38 KB |
A Police operation code name 'Clarion' last week arrested 127 illegal immigrants from neighbouring Zambia who were suspected of engaging in the illegal harvesting of protected wood species in the Zambezi region.
Namibia Police (Nampol), Zambezi regional Commander, Andreas Shilelo told Confidente the immigrants were charged under the Illegal Immigrant Act and given forty-eight hours to leave the country and were subsequently deported. "Most of them we arrested, where not found harvesting timber but we took
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NAM_2022_11_Illegal Timber harvesting plagues Zambezi region_Confidante.pdf | 224.39 KB |
A carcass of a white bull rhino was discovered on the October 20 at a private farm in the Windhoek district. It is believed the rhino was poached between the October 16 and 20. According to a police report, investigations were carried out at the scene of the crime to which, "bullet fragments from the animal indicate the animal was killed for its horn," the police report reads. In a similar report a case of hunting of specially protected game has been opened at the Seeis police station in the Windhoek district.
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NAM_2022_10_Two Rhinos found dead and dehorned_Confidente.pdf | 284.46 KB |
Cape Town - A third prisoner who escaped from custody in Makhanda last week has been rearrested. Trymore Chauke was nabbed on Sunday after police received information about a possible escapee who was alleged to have been asking people for food in the farming community of Seven Fountains in Makhanda. A police task team immediately followed up on the lead and within 30 minutes Chauke was rearrested, police said. He escaped from the facility through a window with six other inmates last week. He was held in custody for rhino poaching.
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SA_2022_10_Third Eastern Cape prison escapee nabbed after begging for food in Makhanda_IOL.pdf | 179.45 KB |
While Africa is seeing a drop in the rate of rhinoceros poaching, Namibian wildlife authorities say they are seeing a surge in rhino killings in the southern African nation. Conservationists say poachers seeking rhino horns for Asian markets are targeting Namibia’s commercial farms. Save the Rhino Trust CEO Simson Uri Khob said there are reports that syndicates of rhino poachers from South Africa are operating in Namibia. He said poaching cases are rising, especially in Etosha National Park and commercial farms. "It's a problem," Khob said.
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NAM_2022_10_Cross border syndicates implicated in surge in rhino üoaching_Confidante.pdf | 481.11 KB |
A six-year jail sentence for a man who smuggled 1 100 Emperor scorpions, 42 Bell's hingeback tortoises and a water lizard. Seventeen years imprisonment for elephant poachers in the Kruger National Park. A 10-year jail sentence for a pangolin poacher.
SA National Parks (SANParks) says it is investigating a suspected poisoning incident in the Kruger National Park after the discovery of a buffalo carcass which appeared to have been laced with poison last Thursday. More than 100 dead vultures and a dead hyena likely to have fed off the carcass were also found on the scene.
Four succulent poachers have been sentenced to seven years imprisonment for trying to steal 14 endangered Halfmens (Pachypodium namaquanum) succulent plants within the |Ai|Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park in the Northern Cape.
South Africa's diverse wildlife means it plays a "devastating role" as both source and transit country for wildlife trafficking. The most popular animal parts include rhino horn, abalone, pangolin and ivory, which is moved through South Africa to the East.
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SA_2021_12_Following the wildlife traffickers money_MailandGuardian.pdf | 445.05 KB |
In just over a week, Ray Jansen and his team have recovered four trafficked pangolins - three of them pregnant - in sting operations from the illicit trade in various parts of South Africa. In total, 11 people were arrested by a team of dedicated and specialised law enforcement officers.The operations are a sign, says Jansen, of the African Pangolin Working Group, that pangolin poaching has resumed under Level 3 lockdown restrictions.
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SA_2020-08_Four pangolins rescued in a week from illegal trade_IOL.pdf | 456.93 KB |
Poaching incidents could increase during the lockdown period as criminal networks try to take advantage of the closing of parks, perceiving a reduced presence of law enforcement now dealing with the Covid-19 emergency. “We are in receipt of intelligence that known poaching organisers operating across southern Africa intend taking advantage of the current situation,” said Sarah Stoner, director of intelligence at the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC).
Guyanese finches are almost always smuggled in hair curlers from Guyana to New York, while pig-nosed turtles are trafficked in high amounts, declared as a marine species, and flown from a regional Indonesian airport to Jakarta before flying to China. The greatest variation in wildlife trafficking in air transport doesn’t necessarily occur between regions but between the species or wildlife products trafficked, the specific methods used with the routes taken by wildlife traffickers heavily dependent on wildlife type, says the Runway to Extinction report:…