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.
Meanwhile, the police at Outjo in the Kunene region arrested a 28-year-old suspect while he was transporting a rhinohorn on Friday evening. He was apprehended when the police stopped and searched the vehicle he was traveling inbetween Outjo and Okaukuejo. The rhino horn’s estimated value is N$300,000.
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NAM_2023_10_Cannabis mandrax and rhino horn possession lands six behind bars_Informante.pdf | 61.38 KB |
Nampol in Omusati thwart a rhino poaching expedition and confiscate the rifle.
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NAM_2023_06_Nampol in Omusati thwart a rhino poaching expedition and confiscate the rifle_informante.pdf | 236.66 KB |
’n Renoster is tussen Saterdagnag en Sondag by die Chudop-watergat naby Namutoni in die Etosha Nasionale Park gestroop. Volgens die woordvoerder van die ministerie van die omgewing, bosbou en toerisme, mnr. Romeo Muyunda, is beide die renoster se horings verwyder. "Dit is die eerste renoster wat vanjaar in die park gestroop is. Die renoster is geskiet en die karkas is Sondag ontdek," het hy gesê. Die Chudop-watergat is sowat vyf kilometer suidwes van Namutoni geleë.
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NAM_2021_06_Renoster in Etosha gestroop_Republikein.pdf | 345.07 KB |
NAM_2021_06_Rhino poached in Etosha_Republikein_Eng.pdf | 248.18 KB |
Fälle der Wilderei sind im vergangenen Jahr zurückgegangen - Schuppentiere "am meisten" gehandelt. Mehr als 300 Personen wurden im vergangenen Jahr wegen Wildtierverbrechen an hochwertigen Arten festgenommen. Die geringste Anzahl gemeldete Fälle wird im Zusammenhang mit der Nashorn-Wilderei, die höchste Anzahl wiederum im Zusammenhang mit dem Handel von Schuppentieren verzeichnet.
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NAM_2021_04_Coronakrise bremst Nashorn_Wilderei_Allgemeine Zeitung.pdf | 541.38 KB |
NAM_2021_04_Corona crisis slows rhino poaching_Allgemeine Zeitung_Eng.pdf | 540.03 KB |
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 |
A 50-year-old woman was arrested in Walvis Bay after being found in possession of two elephant tusks. According to Erongo police spokesperson Erastus Iikuyu, the arrest took place on Monday at around 19:00 during a police raid in Robert Forbes Street. He couldn't say what the ivory was valued at. The woman faces charges of violating the law on controlled wildlife products and trade.
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NAM_2021-01_Woman nabbed with ivory_Namibian Sun.pdf | 280.43 KB |
It's clear why the illegal wildlife trade exists. Where there's consumer demand for products from endangered species, there are bound to be networks seeking to profit from that demand. But what about the motivations of individual offenders? TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade NGO, decided to simply ask them. The researchers interviewed 73 people in South African correctional centers, who had been convicted of crimes related to rhinos, abalone, or cycads (ancient palm-like plants that have been called "the world's most endangered plants").
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SA_2020-12_Convicted poachers in South Africa explain why heavy policing is ineffective_Forbes.pdf | 350.26 KB |
Farmer in der Umgebung von Usakos und Karibib müssen wachsam sein Seit. Monaten kämpfen Farmer in der Umgebung von Usakos und Karibib gegen eine besonders hohen Anzahl Fälle der Wilderei - das Ausmaß wird als alarmierend bezeichnet und die private Antiwildereieinheit arbeitet nahezu rund um die Uhr. Die Polizei untersucht das Ausmaß.
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NAM_2020-11_Wilderei ein Grund zur Sorge_Allgemeine Zeitung.pdf | 397.57 KB |
NAM_2020-11_Poaching is a cause for concern_Allgemeine Zeitung_Eng.pdf | 395.44 KB |
Das Ministerium für Umwelt, Forstwirtschaft und Tourismus greift hart und konsequent gegen die Wilderei durch. Im Etoscha-Nationalpark wurde vor einiger Zeit eine spezialisierte Hundeeinheit stationiert, nun soll noch eine berittene Einheit dazukommen. "Der Etoscha-Nationalpark ist Namibias Aushängeschild. Touristen reisen in den Park und wollen die Artenvielfalt bewundern und beobachten - und genau das müssen wir schützen", stellte Umweltminister Pohamba Shifeta am Mittwoch bei Okaukuejo klar.
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NAM_2020-11_Beritten gegen die Wilderei_Allgemeine Zeitung.pdf | 380.79 KB |
NAM_2020-11_Mounted against poaching_Allgemeine Zeitung_Eng.pdf | 378.65 KB |
Polizeieinsatz mit US-Strafverfolgungsbehörden führt zum Erfolg. Vier mutmaßliche Schuppentier-Schmuggler konnten während eines Einsatzes zwischen US-Strafverfolgungsbehörden und der namibischen Polizei vor kurzem gestellt werden - es wird die erste Kooperation ihrer Art bezeichnet. Zudem wurden erneut mutmaßliche Wilderer bei Walvis Bay verhaftet.
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NAM_2020-08_Pangolin_Schmuggler gestellt_Allgemeine Zeitung.pdf | 448.78 KB |
NAM_2020-08_Pangolin smugglers charged_Allgemeine Zeitung_Eng.pdf | 342.87 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 timely tip-off and a swift police deployment in the dead of the night produced yet another success story in the Namibian Police’s ongoing anti-poaching campaign in the northern regions bordering the Etosha National Park when four suspected illegal hunters were caught red-handed on Wednesday morning. The suspects – including the principal of local primary school - were arrested in the Ompundja Constituency of the Oshana Region after they were allegedly found in possession of the carcasses of four duikers, one steenbok, four springhares, one rabbit and two red-crested korhaans.…
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NAM_2015-10_Principal busted for poaching_Namibian Sun.pdf | 113.84 KB |
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 |
The police are determined to get to the bottom of the rhino poaching problem regardless of the status of the people involved, Commissioner Ndahangwapo Kashihakumwa, who is leading an anti-poaching operation in the Etosha National Park and surrounding areas in Omusati and Kunene, has warned. On Wednesday, a team of investigating officers was sent from pillar to post by three suspected poachers who had pledged to give their full cooperation to the police.
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NAM_2015-07_Poachers wont win_Namibian Sun.pdf | 117.38 KB |
The police have made significant progress in their investigation of the recently discovered mass killings of rhino in the Etosha National Park. The death toll is expected to rise, if information at the sites of buried carcasses prove to be correct. A large number of suspects have been arrested and the list includes employees within the park. The Oshana police regional commander, Commissioner Ndahangwapo Kashihakumwa, is heading a team of investigators permanently deployed in Etosha since June 1.
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NAM_2015-07_Syndicates exposed in Etosha rhino poaching_Namibian Sun.pdf | 84.24 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 |