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Multiple arrests have been made recently in connection with pangolin trafficking in operations in Gauteng, Free State and Mpumalanga. Prof Ray Jansen, founding member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Pangolin Specialist Group, and his partners rescued a trafficked pangolin in Midrand in a sting operation last week. It was the 12th pangolin rescued this year. Jansen said the pangolin was in a critical condition and might not survive.

The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) on Tuesday confirmed that with an ongoing operation in Etosha National Park, 11 rhino carcasses from the beginning of June to date have been discovered. MEFT spokesperson Romeo Muyunda in a statement said all the 11 were found without horns and they were black rhinos. "Investigations indicate that the carcasses range between 3 weeks and older. This is regrettable and a strong indication that the fight against poaching is not over," he added.

Two foreign nationals from the Democratic Republic of Congo were arrested outside Seattle last week and indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of conspiracy and money laundering for allegedly smuggling elephant ivory and rhino horns into the United States.

Three alleged pangolin poachers were bust red-handed and arrested when they tried to sell an animal to a "potential client" at a Shell garage on the N1 in Midrand on Friday. Olivia was the seventh pangolin rescued this year from poachers.

Despite being 20 times smaller and having much lower rainfall, Richtersveld has more plant species than the country's famous Kruger national park. It is, says Van Wyk, "the most important succulent laboratory in the world". But it is this variety of rare succulents that draws the poachers. Many Richtersveld species are so specialised that they grow only in one valley or on one mountain slope. In extreme cases an entire species can be confined to an area smaller than a football pitch, so a poacher could render a species extinct in a morning.

The illegal hunting of bush meat, or game meat, has long distressed wildlife conservationists. It has persisted in sub-Saharan Africa, attracting international attention and debate. Enforcement by authorities and community-based initiatives have been tried as anti-poaching approaches, but with mixed results. Overall, wildlife populations have continued to plummet. Why has poaching refused to go away? The answer, as suggested by poachers themselves, is simple: Because poaching pays.