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.
Botswana's government has presented to the ongoing CITES CoP-19 in Panama a detailed document on the country's efforts to contain rhino poaching which increased at least 100 fold between 2018 and 2020. The country recorded two rhino poaching incidents in the five years between 2012 and 2017 with zero incidents reported in 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2017.
The Wildlife Justice Commission said a threat assessment on the state of rhino horn trafficking in the past decade showed that much was needed to fight the trade via law enforcement, policymakers and conservation. The assessment found that over the last decade, six countries dominated the supply chain as source, transit and destination locations and that a third of rhino horns were smuggled unconcealed, suggesting a potential reliance on corruption to move shipments along the supply chain. They found that large amounts of harvested horns have been diverted from legal…
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
SA_2022_11_Corruption aids rhino horn smuggling_IOL.pdf | 294.55 KB |
Botswana' Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) has confirmed the recent arrest of a man found in possession of a live pangolin in the capital Gaborone. The department says the incident was reported to them by the Botswana Police, raising concern about the continued poaching of pangolins.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
BOT_2022_11_Botswana man arrested for possession of live pangolin_Independent.pdf | 277.61 KB |
A white rhino has reportedly been killed and dehorned by poachers inside the protected Khama Rhino Sanctuary (KRS) in Botswana. Two separate conservationists have reported about the killing. One conservationist told this publication that their sources inside the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) confirmed the incident. "Two weeks ago a white rhino was poached at Khama Rhino Sanctuary but they are denying it happened at their property but sources inside DWNP confirm it was indeed at KRS."
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
BOT_08_Rhino killed at Khama Sanctuary_Sunday Standard.pdf | 437.09 KB |
"The absence of tourists in conservation areas enables poachers to act more freely. In normal times, tourists act as additional 'eyes and ears' in conservation areas, and their presence deters poachers from acting, but the decline in tourism activity emboldened poachers," a UK government report on the impact of Covid-19 on poaching has said.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
BOT_2022_04_Increased movement in wildlife areas reduces poaching activities_Sunday Standard.pdf | 343.45 KB |
Cape Town - Poaching continues to decimate the rhino population with 451 rhinos poached in South Africa last year, 327 of them from government reserves and 124 from private property.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
SA_2022_03_Rhino poaching_the trade and the convictions_IOL.pdf | 382.22 KB |
Poaching intensified over the past three years following the 2018 decision by the government to disarm the anti-poaching unit under the DWNP. The 100+ rhinos poached since the disarmament represents a 100+ percent increase in poaching incidents when compared to the previous three years when Botswana lost one rhino per annum in the preceding 2015, 2016, and 2017 when the unit had firearms. There were at least 12 rhinos poached in 2018, 29 rhinos in 2019, and over 50 poached by the end of 2020.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
BOT_2021_11_Botswana struggles with rising cases of rhino poaching_Independent Co.pdf | 716.01 KB |
A rhino conservationist has turned to the world of non-fungible tokens to help fund efforts to keep poachers at bay.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
SA_2021_11_Can NFTs help save rhinos from poachers_Aljazeera.pdf | 734.48 KB |
Cape Town - Two men who were caught with R9 million rand worth of abalone have been sentenced to a year behind bars while authorities have warned this is still a very serious crime being committed and is often linked to the drug trade.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
SA_2021_10_Abalone smugglers sentenced while authorities say drugs are often linked to the trade_IOL.pdf | 323.48 KB |
The Director of the Directorate of Intelligence and Security (DIS) Brigadier Peter Magosi has defended government’s decision to dehorn Botswana’s rhinos as an anti-poaching control measure. Magosi has said the dehorning of rhinos was the only way they could ensure protection of the animals from poachers.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
BOT_2020-07_Its better to show tourists a dehorned rhino than nothing at all_Magosi_Sunday Standard.pdf | 197.57 KB |
The four suspected poachers who were arrested on Saturday following a shoot-out with the police at Khorixas will remain in custody after the court denied them bail.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
NAM_2017-06_Suspected poachers remanded in custody_The Namibian.pdf | 217.05 KB |
A man suspected of having travelled from Namibia was arrested at the Hong Kong International Airport on Friday in connection with 12 rhino horns found in express air parcels.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
NAM_2017-03_Suspected Nam rhino horns seized in China_The Namibian.pdf | 213.05 KB |
Three suspects were arrested on Tuesday evening at Tjova village in Kavango East after being found in possession of 13 elephant tusks by a joint police and ministry of environment patrol. Police spokesperson Kauna Shikwambi yesterday said police arrested a Namibian and two Angolans, aged 27, 42 and 50, respectively, during an intelligence-led investigation.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
NAM_2017-01_Three arrested with 13 elephant tusks_The Namibian.pdf | 564.36 KB |
He was tending to his employer's cattle and not poaching, the suspected poacher shot and wounded by police on Wednesday at a farm in the Outjo district said yesterday.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
NAM_2017-01_Man shot by police said he was not poaching_The Namibian.pdf | 531.25 KB |
A suspected poacher was shot and wounded by police yesterday at Farm Harrisy near Etosha National Park, bringing the number of those injured to two since December last year. Three others were shot dead at Bwabwata National Park last week following the invocation of the Criminal Procedure Act where police are instructed to shoot poachers in self-defence.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
NAM_2017-01_Police shoot suspected poacher_The Namibian.pdf | 247.54 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.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
NAM_2016-12_Shifeta says poaching not a crisis_The Namibian.pdf | 524.75 KB |
Six people found carrying rifles in the Etosha National Park last week were arrested after a wounded rhino was found in the area.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
NAM_2016-12_Six arrested in Etosha_The Namibian.pdf | 189.19 KB |
A Chinese man was arrested on Wednesday in South Africa when he was found with 18 rhino horns worth R6,6 million which are suspected to have been smuggled from Namibia.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
NAM_2016-11_Chinese national arrested with 18 rhino horns_The Namibian.pdf | 965.73 KB |
Government yesterday condemned the random shooting of Namibian citizens suspected of being poachers at the Botswana border, saying the authorities in that country are too quick to pull the trigger.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
NAM_2015-07_Government condemns Botswana for shooting Namibians_The Namibian.pdf | 290.5 KB |
Yet another black rhino was poached in the Omatendeka Conservancy in Southern Kunene over the weekend, bringing the total number of poached rhinos in the country to 69 this year. The rhino is the fifth to be poached in the same area within a couple of months. The Ministry of Environment and Tourism confirmed yesterday that five people were arrested in connection with the incident after they were discovered with two rhino horns in their possession.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
NAM_2015-06_Rhino carcass discovered at Omatendeka Conservancy_The Namibian.pdf | 222.79 KB |
Ninety-five black rhinos and eight white rhinos have been poached in Namibia since 2005, the ministry of environment and tourism revealed yesterday. Minister of environment Pohamba Shifeta said this, when he revealed the outcome of tests conducted on the latest rhino and elephant carcasses discovered since 2014.
Shifeta said over the last 10 years, 294 black rhinos died of natural causes, while 95 others were poached and seven others were killed for trophy hunting.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
NAM_2015-09_103 rhinos poached in the last 10 years_The Namibian.pdf | 222.78 KB |