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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Police thwarted an illegal pangolin sale worth thousands in the east of Pretoria with the help of an environmental activist. Police spokesperson Yeroboam Mbantsane said the environmental activist from the African Pangolin Working Group disguised himself as a potential buyer and approached two men, aged 34 and 27, from the Northern Cape who were selling a live pangolin.
Pretoria-based police have yet again nabbed suspects who attempted to secretly sell an endangered species, a pangolin, which continues to be a problematic crime in the region. On Friday, four people were arrested during a street sale of a pangolin when the sellers were promised R50 000 in a police trap.
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SA_2022_04_R50 000 pangolin deal leads to sellers being arrested in Pretoria_Pretoria Rekord.pdf | 566.64 KB |
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.
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SA_2021_11_How Dogs Are Fighting Rhino Poaching_Treehugger.pdf | 574.43 KB |
The employees, two of whom are security guards while the other is attached to technical services at one of the Kruger National Park rest camps, appeared in court on Thursday following the discovery of fresh rhino horns in their vehicle. In a statement released by SANParks on Friday, the Managing Executive for the Kruger park, Gareth Coleman, said it was "always disheartening when colleagues from SANParks are involved in criminal activities.
Illegal trade in the endangered animals on the rise again as lockdown decreases. Several pangolins have already been rescued this year.
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SA_2020-09_Pangolin rescued and three people arrested in North West_The South African.pdf | 386.65 KB |
Large abalone consignment was kept under surveillance as it travelled from Cape Town to Johannesburg. Police have seized abalone worth an estimated R3-million at a home in the Johannesburg suburb of Mayfair and arrested a 46-year-old man.
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SA_2020-08_Police sting operation leads to abalone seizure and arrest_The South African.pdf | 402.45 KB |
Minister says efforts are paying off, with lockdown and increased law enforcement efforts cutting rhino deaths to 166 to date.
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SA_2020-07_Lockdown restrictions help cut rhino poaching by half this year_The South African.pdf | 251.82 KB |
Already facing extinction at the hands of rampant poachers, the endangered rhino’s future is in more jeopardy in the wake of the escalating outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Namibia’s free-roaming black rhinos, extraordinary than any other herd globally, is bearing the biggest brunt, directly and indirectly, from the pandemic. Efforts to conserve this special species in Namibia largely depend on a vibrant tourism industry. With the sector among the hardest hit by the eruption of the COVID-19, the impact on initiatives to save the animal has been adverse.…
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NAM_2020-05_Namibias special rhinos under severe COVID-19 threat _CAJ News Africa.pdf | 226.38 KB |