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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Oshikoto police regional commander Commissioner Teopolina Kalompo-Nashikaku has issued a stern warning to poachers, saying they risk their lives by engaging with armed anti-poaching units. Without mincing her words, she warned that the authorities are committed to protecting the country’s fauna and flora and said poachers risk their own lives if they shoot at security personnel deployed to safeguard wildlife species.
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NAM_2024_08_Authorities vow tough action against poachers_Namibian Sun_0.pdf | 255.22 KB |
Oshikoto police regional commander Commissioner Teopolina Kalompo-Nashikaku has issued a stern warning to poachers, saying they risk their lives by engaging with armed anti-poaching units. Without mincing her words, she warned that the authorities are committed to protecting the country's fauna and flora and said poachers risk their own lives if they shoot at security personnel deployed to safeguard wildlife species.
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NAM_2024_08_Authorities vow tough action against poachers_Namibian Sun.pdf | 255.22 KB |
Police have confirmed the arrest of one of the five convicted rhino poachers who escaped from prison in Makhanda in October last year. "We can confirm the arrest and that he was involved in attempted poaching at one of the private game reserves," South African Police Service spokesperson Warrant Officer Majola Nkohli told talk of the Town. Seven men escaped from Grahamstown Correctional Facility in October 2022. One of them, convicted poacher Trymore Chauke was arrested at Seven Fountains around 7pm on Sunday 23 October.
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SA_2023_04_Convicted rhino poacher arrested at private game reserve_Dispatch Live.pdf | 289.7 KB |
'An incredible story of courage and survival that has now been obliterated' is how wildlife veterinarian Dr William Fowlds has described the killing this week of two orphaned survivors of a 2016 rhino poaching incident at Sibuya Game Reserve. In a bitter blow to the rhino conservation community, two rhinos who mothers were killed by poachers seven years ago were themselves killed by poachers on Tuesday April 4.
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SA_2023_04_Bitter twist to new double Sibuya rhino killings_Dispatch Live.pdf | 300.31 KB |
The sentencing of six rhino poachers convicted in the Makhanda High Court just over a month ago will be postponed until four of them who escaped from prison are traced. Francis Chitiyo, Trymore Chauke, Simba Masinge , Nhamo Muyambo, and Abraham Moyane and Misheck Chauke were convicted for conspiracy to poach rhinos in the Makhanda High Court on 30 September 2022. They were due to be sentenced on Friday 4 November. Five of them escaped from the Waainek correctional facility in Makhanda in the early hours of 18 October, together with two other prisoners.
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SA_2022_11_Poachers sentencing to be postponed_Talk of the Town.pdf | 253.01 KB |
A number of approaches have been used to safeguard different natural resources. Use, and vulnerability mainly depends on its social, and economic value. Wildlife, considerably more valuable- has generated a lot of interest as concerned parties try to apply different approaches to ensure that it is protected. It is unfortunate that some of the wildlife species, like animals' numbers that dwindled because human beings always target them as a means of survival or tampered with their habitats.
166 rhinos have been poached during the first half of 2020, compared to 316 at the same time last year. Of the rhinos killed this year, nearly three-quarters happened before the lockdown. In fact, in the month of April, no rhinos were killed in the Intensive Protection Zone in Kruger for the first time in almost ten years.
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Africa Geographic_2020-08_Rhino poaching stats 2020_more shades of grey_Africa Geographic.pdf | 843.69 KB |
The trial of six men facing rhino-poaching charges continued in the Grahamstown High Court this week. East London residents Francis Chitiyo, Trymore Chauke, Misheck Chauke, Simba Masinge and Nhamo Muyambo, and Abraham Moyane were arrested in July 2018 during Operation Full Moon – the Eastern Cape Rhino Task Team’s code name for its anti-poaching operations. All six have since been in custody. They are accused on four counts.
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SA_2020-03_Poaching trial to resume in May_Grocotts Mail.pdf | 831.45 KB |
The poaching of rhinos and elephants in Namibia is not a crisis because only about 1,2% are poached per year, said environment minister Pohamba Shifeta.
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NAM_2016-12_Shifeta says poaching not a crisis_The Namibian.pdf | 524.75 KB |
Police inspector general Sebastian Ndeitunga yesterday said he will take stiff measures on officers who were on duty at Hosea Kutako International Airport when the Chinese national smuggled 18 rhino horns out of Namibia.
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NAM_2016-11_Ndeitunga breathes fire over rhino horns_The Namibian.pdf | 551 KB |
Deputy minister of environment Tommy Nambahu has repeated his stance that the release of suspected rhino poachers is hampering the ministry's efforts to fight the scourge.
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NAM_2016-07_Concern over release of poachers as three are arrested with rhino horns_The Namibian.pdf | 576.11 KB |
The Ministry of Environment and Tourism projects to have spent over a billion dollars in anti-poaching operations by the end of this year since the operation started two years ago.
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NAM_2016-03_Poaching war to cost a billion_The Namibian.pdf | 249.89 KB |
Four more rhino carcasses were found at Grootberg Lodge in Kunene region in late December last year.
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NAM_2016-01_Rhino poaching toll at 80_The Namibian.pdf | 974.5 KB |
Environment minister Pohamba Shifeta says he is not aware of any ministers or former members of parliament involved in poaching. Meanwhile, police Inspector General Sebastian Ndeitunga says he cannot deny that ministers or members of parliament were involved in poaching, but he wanted to know who they are so he can lay his hands on them. The minister and the police chief were reacting to reports in the Namibian Sun that NamRights executive director Phil ya Nangoloh had allegedly submitted a report to Ndeitunga in which political leaders are accused of involvement in…
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NAM_2015-12_Shifeta unaware of ministers who poach_The Namibian.pdf | 462.12 KB |
The Tourism minister has accused some traditional leaders and businesspeople of being used as middlemen by poaching syndicates.
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NAM_2015-07_Poaching syndicates use locals_The Namibian.pdf | 687.89 KB |
In a move to control rhino poaching, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism started constructing a proper boundary fence to protect animals in the Etosha National Park. The fencing is expected to cost an estimated N$700 000 per kilometre. Etosha measures 824 kilometres, and the ministry would need about N$576 million to fence it all. The ministry, however, does not have enough funds for the project and has requested an additional N$167 million during this financial year. It was allocated about N$643 million in the 2015/2016 national budget.
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NAM_2015-06_Fencing Etosha to prevent poaching_The Namibian.pdf | 436.57 KB |
Poachers should be ashamed of themselves for killing innocent animals, said deputy minister of environment and tourism Tommy Nambahu. Just a week ago, Nambahu explained that the ministry was aware that local people are being used in the poaching of elephants and rhinos. "Shame on them for doing what they are doing to innocent animals. I have never heard of a rhino destroying a mahangu field or killing anyone. Why must it be killed because someone wants its parts?" he asked.
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NAM_2015-05_Nambahu shames poachers_The Namibian.pdf | 456.78 KB |