Search results

Kruger National Park, the world's greatest refuge for rhinos, is losing them to poaching faster than they're being born. The park's last rhino may already be alive. It's time to declare an emergency.

Rhino poachers entering Kruger National Park are increasingly being run down by packs of unleashed hunting hounds in full cry, followed by a chopper tracking their hi-tech GPS collars. As the baying pack approaches, the poacher has no idea the dogs are trained to not attack. They won't bite him (there are legal implications), but if he tries to harm the dogs, rangers will fire from the chopper. The poachers know this and no dog has yet
been lost to a poacher’s bullet.

The Kruger National Park has a major rhino-poaching crisis, but that's just one of many mounting problems - and it's extremely worrying.

Wild animals are back. Kangaroos bounding through the streets of Melbourne, elephant herds passing through Indian villages, jackals in Johannesburg, leopards in Mumbai, wild boar in Bergamo and Verreaux eagles catching thermals above a silent Cape Town. And of course, inevitable cartoons of humans in surgical masks staring forlornly at animals playing on the sidewalk. Is lockdown good news for creatures - or for poachers?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Six people found carrying rifles in the Etosha National Park last week were arrested after a wounded rhino was found in the area.

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.

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.

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.

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.