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.
As the world returns to post-covid normality, so do its trade routes and the unfortunate consequence of increased wildlife trafficking, experts say.
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WORLD_2023_04_Wildlife trafficking could return to pre_pandemic numbers_Getaway.pdf | 449.22 KB |
Cape Town - Four men from Milnerton pleaded guilty and were sentenced following their arrest for the possession of abalone valued at more than R4.8 million.
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SA_2023_03_Abalone poachers plead guilty in Cape Town Magistrates Court_IOL.pdf | 228.88 KB |
A 23-year-old man, Rich Ricardo Chauke, was sentenced to nine years imprisonment after rangers apprehended him with a rifle and an axe in Kruger National Park.
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SA_2022_04_Poacher with rifle and axe in Kruger Park sentenced to prison_Getaway.pdf | 458.84 KB |
As Malawi registers a drop in ivory and rhino horn trafficking, it has noticed an increase in pangolin poaching with related arrests having tripled between 2019 and 2020.
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MAL_2022_03_Pangolin trafficking on the rise in Malawi_Getaway.pdf | 484.28 KB |
A survey conducted by conservation encouragement charity, Tusk and Natural State, found that African rangers see no sign of relief. Poaching is actually escalating as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact Africa’s communities and wildlife. The survey questioned 60 field organizations across 19 countries in Africa.
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AFRIKA_2021_08_African rangers fight poaching under plight of COVID_19 pandemic_eturbonews.pdf | 1.37 MB |
Namibia's over-burdened criminal justice system is struggling to keep up with rhino-poaching court cases, some of them delayed by up to six years. Is a special wildlife crime court the answer?
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NAM_2021_02_Calls for a special wildlife crime court in Namibia_Oxpeckers.pdf | 777.04 KB |
There are worrying signs that Namibia's legendary wild game numbers may be plummeting.
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NAM_2019-04_Troubled times for Namibian wildlife_The Namibian.pdf | 1002.93 KB |
There are worrying signs that Namibia’s legendary wild game numbers may be plummeting. Four years ago the Namibian Professional Hunters Association raised an alarm about the lack of huntable elephant bulls in the Caprivi region, where the number of communal conservancies had grown from one in 1997 to 15 today.
How did 13 rhino bulls from the Kruger National Park end up on a hunting farm owned by a reclusive Russian billionaire in Namibia? John Grobler and Khadija Sharife follow the trail
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Oxpeckers_Christo Wieses Namibian rhino deal under scrutiny.pdf | 261.62 KB |
Xuecheng Hou, a wealthy Chinese businessman linked to wildlife contraband trafficking, has emerged as a major player in the illegal trade in rare African timber in sub-Saharan Africa. John Grobler investigates.
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Oxpeckers_Chinese mafia boss_turns to timber in Namibia.pdf | 1.73 MB |
The Namibian authorities don’t seem to be in any hurry to shut down a rhino horn smuggling syndicate that has infiltrated security at Windhoek’s airport, writes John Grobler.
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Oxpeckers_The horn scam at Windhoeks airport.pdf | 241.34 KB |
Depending on your views about legal trade in wildlife products, the past week was either a good week or a very good week for Namibian conservation, writes John Grobler.
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Oxpeckers_Namibia diaries the good_the bad_the ugly.pdf | 2.66 MB |
After a two-year investigation, John Grobler exposes the totem-based networks facilitating transnational rhino horn smuggling and defeating the criminal justice system’s pursuit of suspects.
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Oxpeckers_A mysterious dead hand driving Namibias poaching.pdf | 1.68 MB |
John Grobler visits Okahao, a sleepy settlement near Etosha National Park at the centre of the poaching plague threatening the world’s last viable population of critically endangered black rhinos.
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Oxpeckers_The epicentre of Namibias rhino poaching.pdf | 1.21 MB |
The second recent court development followed the sensational arrest of a young, up-and-coming Windhoek businessman named “Mox” Namwandi. Who is he? John Grobler tracks his connections.
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Oxpeckers_Bling king accused in Namibian rhino poaching.pdf | 250.11 KB |
Court evidence reveals the typical methdology deployed by one of five organised crime syndicates believed to be active in Namibian wildlife trafficking, reports John Grobler.
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Oxpeckers_Inner workings of a Chinese poaching syndicate.pdf | 1.68 MB |
A 10-month-long investigation by John Grobler uncovers the political and commercial agendas driving the world’s largest black rhino population towards extinction.
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Oxpeckers_Caught in the crossfire_how cattle and Chinese mining interests are killing off Namibia.pdf | 759.26 KB |
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Oxpeckers_Namibias national soccer medic linked to rhino poaching and murder.pdf | 1.28 MB |
The Save the Rhino Trust (SRT) has launched an internal investigation after it was presented with a letter in mid-December outlining possible collusion between some staff members and poachers who have killed at least 18 critically endangered Kunene black rhinos since late 2012. The crisis at the SRT is however just part of a larger one in anti-poaching law enforcement and natural resource management in the so-called “Big Three” communal conservancies - Palmwag, Abenab and Sesfontein - in southern Kunene.
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NAM_2015-01_Wildlife staff probed in Kunene rhino poaching_The Namibian.pdf | 881.87 KB |
How did ‘Boxer’ die? Why are dead rhinos being found in the area his team patrolled? John Grobler digs up strange secrets surrounding the deaths of black rhinos in the Kunene region of Namibia.
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Oxpeckers_Strange death of a rhino protector.pdf | 381.08 KB |