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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Fifteen years after South Africa was hit by an unprecedented wave of rhino-horn poaching, the slaughter rate remains relentless - with one rhino shot almost every day in KwaZulu-Natal, the historic heartland of global rhino conservation. More than 60% of the rhinos killed in South Africa so far in 2023 drew their last breaths in KwaZulu-Natal as poachers continue to shift more of their deadly firepower and axes to the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, one of the world’s last strongholds of wild rhino conservation. Latest poaching …
Botswana's wildlife authorities say four rhinoceroses were shot, and two of them died, in a heavily guarded sanctuary, although their horns were not removed. The shootings at the sanctuary in central Botswana came after the government de-horned and relocated most of the rhinos further inland to discourage poachers.
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BOT_2023_04_Botswana on alert after shooting of rhinos in sanctuary_VOA News.pdf | 272.64 KB |
Police have confirmed the arrest of one of the five convicted rhino poachers who escaped from prison in Makhanda in October last year. "We can confirm the arrest and that he was involved in attempted poaching at one of the private game reserves," South African Police Service spokesperson Warrant Officer Majola Nkohli told talk of the Town. Seven men escaped from Grahamstown Correctional Facility in October 2022. One of them, convicted poacher Trymore Chauke was arrested at Seven Fountains around 7pm on Sunday 23 October.
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SA_2023_04_Convicted rhino poacher arrested at private game reserve_Dispatch Live.pdf | 289.7 KB |
'An incredible story of courage and survival that has now been obliterated' is how wildlife veterinarian Dr William Fowlds has described the killing this week of two orphaned survivors of a 2016 rhino poaching incident at Sibuya Game Reserve. In a bitter blow to the rhino conservation community, two rhinos who mothers were killed by poachers seven years ago were themselves killed by poachers on Tuesday April 4.
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SA_2023_04_Bitter twist to new double Sibuya rhino killings_Dispatch Live.pdf | 300.31 KB |
The Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife conservation agency has, up till now, opted to not dehorn its rhinos to protect them from poachers. But that could change soon, following another year of relentless killings in which the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park emerged as the current rhino poaching hotspot, globally. The latest poaching figures released by national Environment Minister Barbara Creecy show that 244 rhinos were killed by horn poachers in KwaZulu-Natal in 2022 - the vast majority of them in the HIP.
Botswana said it's seen a dramatic drop in rhinoceros poaching this year after taking greater steps to protect its shrinking rhino population. The significant decline was revealed in a report presented this week at a conference on CITES - the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. After losing 126 animals between 2018 and 2021, only six rhinoceroses have been poached in Botswana in 2022.
The report says poaching incidents peaked in 2020 when the country lost 62 rhinos. The following year, at least 33 were reported killed by poachers.
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BOT_2022_11_Rhino Poaching Way Down in Botswana_VOA Zimbabwe.pdf | 48.36 KB |
The sentencing of six rhino poachers convicted in the Makhanda High Court just over a month ago will be postponed until four of them who escaped from prison are traced. Francis Chitiyo, Trymore Chauke, Simba Masinge , Nhamo Muyambo, and Abraham Moyane and Misheck Chauke were convicted for conspiracy to poach rhinos in the Makhanda High Court on 30 September 2022. They were due to be sentenced on Friday 4 November. Five of them escaped from the Waainek correctional facility in Makhanda in the early hours of 18 October, together with two other prisoners.
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SA_2022_11_Poachers sentencing to be postponed_Talk of the Town.pdf | 253.01 KB |
From the investigations, it is believed that villagers in the area collude with people from other regions in trapping and killing the giraffe, while crossing the Mswakini and Kwakuchinja wildlife corridors.
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TAN_2022_06_Why giraffe killings are top on poachers hit list in Manyara_The Citizen.pdf | 494.31 KB |
Just as the barbarity of war in Ukraine or the global climate crisis gradually lose their shock value, the unrelenting massacre of South Africa’s rhino has all but drifted from public view. Behind the scenes, however, at least 75 rhinos have been butchered for their horns in KwaZulu-Natal in the opening months of 2022.
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SA_2022_04_Rhino bloodbath in KZN as poachers gun down 75 animals this year_DailyMaverick.pdf | 1.04 MB |
Botswana wildlife authorities have refuted reports the country's rhinoceros population is on the verge of extinction due to poaching. The southern African country has battled a rise in poaching, with more than 60 animals killed in the last two years.
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BOT_2021_10_Botswana allays concerns over rhino poaching crisis_VOA News.pdf | 360.29 KB |
Botswana, confronting an unprecedented rise in poaching, has refuted reports by former President Ian Khama that at least 120 rhinoceroses have been killed in the last 18 months. Instead, the government says, wildlife crimes have dropped by 70 percent since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
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BOT_2021_03_Botswana Denies 120 Rhinos Poached in 18 Months_Voice of America.pdf | 402.45 KB |
Shocking official statistics have emerged which show that the world's single-largest population of rhinos - those living in the flagship Kruger National Park - has been slashed by between 66% and 70% over the past decade, mainly due to the unrelenting wave of butchery by international hornpoaching syndicates.
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SA_2021_01_Shocking statistics reveal that Kruger rhino population has dropped.pdf | 603.84 KB |
Botswana's National Assembly has rejected a call to rearm its game rangers that was driven by a surge in rhinoceros poaching in recent years. Guns were taken away from the rangers in 201, but an opposition party lawmaker had moved a motion to rearm the wildlife officers.
Botswana has decided to re-arm its wildlife rangers as the southern African country battles increased cases of poaching. In the last six months, at least 17 poachers have been killed in gunfire exchanges with the army. The government had disarmed wildlife rangers in 2018, saying that under the law, only the military was allowed the use of firearms during anti-poaching patrols. With the country losing 56 rhinoceros to poachers in the last two years, the government is reconsidering that approach. Wildlife and Tourism …
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BOT_2020-08_Botswana Moves to Rearm Rangers as Rhino Poaching Intensifies _Voice of America_English.pdf | 952.87 KB |
The trial of six men facing rhino-poaching charges continued in the Grahamstown High Court this week. East London residents Francis Chitiyo, Trymore Chauke, Misheck Chauke, Simba Masinge and Nhamo Muyambo, and Abraham Moyane were arrested in July 2018 during Operation Full Moon – the Eastern Cape Rhino Task Team’s code name for its anti-poaching operations. All six have since been in custody. They are accused on four counts.
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SA_2020-03_Poaching trial to resume in May_Grocotts Mail.pdf | 831.45 KB |