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.
Explore your search results using the filter checkboxes, or amend your search or start a new search.
t's a grim and all too common sight for rangers at some of Africa’s nature reserves: the bullet-riddled carcass of an elephant, its tusks removed by poachers. African elephant populations have fallen by about 30% since 2006. Poaching has driven the decline. Some reserves, like Garamba in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Selous in Tanzania, have lost hundreds of elephants to poachers over the last decade. But others, like Etosha National Park in Namibia, have been targeted far less.
In the war on poaching, some of the best defenders have four legs. Trained canines are used in some of South Africa's national parks to detect wildlife contraband like rhino horns, pangolin scales, and ivory at airports and roadblocks. Other dogs are trained to track and apprehend poachers in the field. According to Save the Rhino, 9,885 rhinos have been lost to poaching in the last decade. But Carl Thornton, founder and director of Pit-Track K9 Conservation and Anti-Poaching Unit, says the numbers are likely much higher.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
SA_2021_11_How Dogs Are Fighting Rhino Poaching_Treehugger.pdf | 574.43 KB |
To the rangers who tracked him, he was known as Big Foot, the rhino poacher whose large barefoot prints were often spotted leading in and out of the Kruger National Park.
The killing of two elephants in Kalacha this week has once again shone the spotlight on rampant poaching in Marsabit County, which is threatening to wipe out wildlife in the region. Authorities recovered two rifles and four rounds of ammunition in a security operation following the incident. County Police Commander Martin Kibet said a bullet obtained from one of the carcasses would be subjected to ballistic testing. The two elephants were killed when they strayed from Marsabit Forest via Hurri Hills into Kalacha. A third elephant was rescued by Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS)…
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
KEN_2021_06_Stop Killing the Elephants_ Worry As Rampant Poaching Threatens Wildlife_allAfrica_com.pdf | 140.21 KB |
Illegal wildlife trade (IWT) has increased in profile in recent years as a global policy issue, largely because of its association with declines in prominent internationally trafficked species. In this review, we explore the scale of IWT, associated threats to biodiversity, and appropriate responses to these threats.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
Illegal wildlife trade Scale_processes_and governance.pdf | 515.96 KB |