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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Cairo International Airport customs officers arrested two foreign passengers, from Lebanon and Spain, who had attempted to smuggle ivory and drugs, respectively, into the country. In the first case, customs officers manually inspected the luggage of a passenger arriving from the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and found pieces of ivory - the hard, white material of elephant tusks - weighing 16 kg. Egyptian customs authorities said that it is prohibited to possess and trade ivory in accordance with Ministerial Resolution No.
Four Zimbabweans were recently arrested for possession of 5 pieces of raw ivory in contravention of the Parks and Wildlife Act, Chapter 20:14.
A report by the South African government reveals a worrisome increase in the number of rhinos poached in 2021, as the decline attributed to the COVID restrictions is now being threatened with reversal. But is it too late to turn the tide?
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SA_2022_04_It is too late to save South Africas rhinos_Fair Planet.pdf | 334.73 KB |
The courts never cease to disappoint. Two years ago, the Supreme Court delivered a retrogressive judgment on pangolin conservation. A few days ago, the High Court delivered a bombshell on a rhino-related case. The court acquitted a man who was found in possession of four rhino horns in Harare.
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ZIM_2022_02_A sad day for rhino conservation in Zim_NewsDay.pdf | 310.39 KB |
The continued refusal by the government of Botswana to allow game rangers to carry firearms, coupled with the country's secrecy on poaching statistics and other wildlife data, is baffling conservationists. On 25 September, as Botswana marked a belated World Rhino Day, former president Ian Khama - a renowned wildlife conservationist - took to his Facebook page to share his thoughts.
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BOT_2021_12_Political rivalries flare in Botswana and animals pay the price_FairPlanet.pdf | 451.12 KB |
A 24 percent decline in the number of white rhinos over the past decade has caused wildlife conservationists to panic over the future of the endangered pachyderms on the African continent. Despite concerted efforts made by most African states to protect their rhinoceros populations, an International Rhino Foundation (IRF) report has revealed that rhino numbers continue to drop due to poaching.
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AFRICA_2021-10_Continued African Rhino loses alarm conservationists_ FairPlanet.pdf | 75.19 KB |
Six months into COVID-19 lockdown and with most southern African nations not having social safety nets for their citizens, there has been an uptick in wildlife poaching across the region.
A group of four men entered a farm in the Severn area and were caught red-handed trying to poach rhinos for their horns by members of the Kuruman Stock Theft unit. The Tswalu Anti- Poaching unit provided aerial and ground support to the South African Police Service (SAPS) and managed to apprehend the suspects. One of the suspects was killed during the gun-fight, with two others injured. A fourth man was arrested, with a weapons stock confiscated.
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SA_2020-04_Northern Cape authorities apprehend poachers amid lockdown scourge_The South African.pdf | 231.76 KB |