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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.

The rampant increase in wildlife poaching has been widely acknowledged as one of the greatest threats to biodiversity conservation in Africa. The Asian demand for rhinoceros horn has seen a massive onslaught on the white rhino (Ceratotherium simum) and black rhino (Diceros bicornis) populations. Since 2008, there has been a gradual and then explosive growth in rhino poaching in South Africa and, to a lesser extent, Mozambique and Botswana.

A Namibian man, Tjetuura Tjiumbua (42), is alleged to have killed a black rhino in the Kunene region close to Khorixas, confirmed deputy commissioner, Edwin Kanguatjivi, head of Nampol's public relations division in Windhoek.

While South Africa battles with increasing rhino poaching, Namibia has been rocked by the discovery of 18 elephants killed for their ivory in the Caprivi Region.