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.
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 |
Poverty around protected parks is not the main reason rhino poaching thrives, argues researcher Ian Glenn.
"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 |
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 |
An official from the North West Department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism will appear in the Mmabatho Magistrate’s Court on Monday 11 October after he was arrested in connection with illegal rhino horn trade. The official and the owner of a security company were arrested on Thursday afternoon in relation to alleged contraventions of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, the Rhino Norms and Standards, and contravention of permit conditions.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
SA_2021_10_Government official to appear in court for rhino horn trade_The South African.pdf | 393.38 KB |
Two men from Madumabisa outside Hwange town have been sentenced to nine years in jail after they were caught in a bush in Matetsi with a live pangolin.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
ZIM_2021_07_Two men jailed nine years each for poaching pangolin_The Chronicle.pdf | 376.24 KB |
A Victoria Falls City Council driver who hit a warthog while driving a municipal vehicle, skinned it and took the meat home for consumption has been arrested for poaching.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
ZIM_2021_04_Vic Falls City Council driver arrested for poaching_The Chronicle.pdf | 389.03 KB |
A 23-year-old villager from Sikabela on the outskirts of Victoria Falls town has been arrested after being found with two elephant tusks. Police and ZimParks rangers trapped Fredrick Ndlovu after getting a tip-off that he was selling the ivory at Lupinyu Business Centre near the Victoria Falls Airport.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
ZIM_2021_03_Villager arrested over elephant tusks_The Chronicle.pdf | 858.7 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 |