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.
Soldiers from the Royal Gurkha Rifles have trained Zambian rangers in anti-poaching skills and tactics – the first UK deployment of its kind in the country. The 30-strong unit spent six weeks in Zambia, sharing soldiering skills with the rangers to help strengthen their response to poaching and the illicit wildlife trade – thought to be worth £17bn a year internationally to criminal gangs. With a large elephant population and rare and endangered species in Zambia, there has been an increase in the number of groups selling illegal animal products internationally,…
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
ZAM_2020_12_British Troops Train Zambian Rangers To Tackle Poaching_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 759.11 KB |
When a squad of federal and state law enforcement agents with guns and bulletproof vests entered a single-story brick home in Buffalo, New York, on July 5, 2018 they were searching for business records of a suspected criminal enterprise. Experts trained to handle dangerous exotic cats congregated in a sunroom pungent with the odor of cat urine.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
INTERNATIONAL_2020_12_Black_market wildlife trade_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 976.18 KB |
Five poachers were gunned down by Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) rangers in 10 incidents of armed confrontation in national parks this year amid an intensifying crackdown on poaching by authorities. Poaching activities declined significantly this year, thanks to the introduction of new anti-poaching strategies that include deployment of high-tech drones to monitor conservancies, retraining of rangers and the introduction of a shoot-to-kill policy.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
ZIM_2020-12_Five poachers gunned down_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 225.37 KB |
The suspects belong to an organized ivory trafficking network whose ramifications extend as far as Nigeria. Six suspected ivory traffickers were arrested in early December in the eastern region of Cameroon, in a joint operation by the departmental delegation of the Ministry of Forests and Wildlife and the police. This operation was carried out with technical assistance from LAGA, an NGO specializing in law enforcement on wildlife. Two of the suspects were arrested on December 2 in Bertoua, the regional capital, with four ivory tusks, two of which came from baby…
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
CAM_2020-12_The arrest of six presumed traffickers of ivory_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 744.53 KB |
Two teachers and five other people from Muanza district in Sofala province, including a smallholder and a public administration technician, were arrested this weekend while trying to sell two elephant tusks and the skin of a leopard for 44,000 meticais (24,000 for the tusks and 20,000 for leopard skin).
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
MOZ_2020-12_Seven arrested on poaching related charges in Sofala_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 673.24 KB |
Ethiopian Biodiversity Institute (EBI) has formulated a wildlife protection project setting up a task force project to end ivory poaching and trafficking. It as well would introduce much stronger custodial sentences, if criminals are caught with Illegal Wildlife Trade. Kumera Wakjira, Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority General Director, said that the project is aimed at combatting wildlife crime. Kumera added that the project has set up an Environmental Crime Unit and regional task forces to combat wildlife crime.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
ETH_2020-12_EBI steps up measures to combat poaching_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 773.44 KB |
Tanzanian police said on Friday they have seized 10 pieces of ivory weighing 23 kilograms and arrested two suspected poachers in connection with illegal possession of the ivory.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
TAN_2020-11_Ivory seized Tanzania_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 680.68 KB |
Namibia is in the process of establishing a special operations unit that will include the use of horses to help curb poaching, an ofcial said on Wednesday. According to Manie le Roux, who coordinates the K9 unit at the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, the mounted unit, which will have 12 horses and 14 members, will work together with the canine unit.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
NAM_2020-11_Namibia mounted patrol_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 327.76 KB |
Until an illegal wildlife trade report was published in May 2015, Malawi's role in one of the world's largest transnational organised crimes was largely unknown. The landlocked southeast African nation - bordered by countries with large wildlife populations - was revealed to be a major trafficking hub for ivory, pangolin scales, rhino horn and other illegal wildlife commodities. Malawi's weak identification and enforcement systems were being systematically exploited by criminals to export their products to China, Vietnam and other demand countries. In response…
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
Malawi_2020-10_Illegal wildlife trade_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 828.61 KB |
In Zimbabwe, where an estimated 85,000 elephants live, the fight to save vulnerable species isn’t just a full-time job-it's a lifeline. Among Zimbabwe's most dedicated anti-poachers are the Akashinga women, a radical all-female unit that patrols five former trophy hunting reserves for illegal activity. The highly-trained, quasi-military troop is an arm of the nonprofit International Anti-Poaching Foundation.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
ZIM_2020-08_Elephant poachers Zimbabwe_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 2 MB |
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
SA_2020-08_Elephant tusk South Africa_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 100.49 KB |
A 53-year-old villager from Dete in Matabeleland North has appeared in court for unlawful possession of four elephant tusks. Similo Vundla of Mambanje village under Chief Nekatambe was arrested by an anti-poaching team in March.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
ZIM_2020-07_Illegal elephant tusks_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 398.68 KB |
The illegal global trade in ivory has shrunk while the trafficking of pangolins has soared, a U.N.
One of the world’s most famous game reserves, Thula Thula in South Africa, has survived the Covid-19 pandemic without any loss of wild animal to poaching. Francoise Malby-Anthony, who runs the game reserve
said that she kept on all her anti-poaching staff throughout covid which prevented any animals being killed by poachers.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
SA-2020-06_COVID_19 elephant poaching_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 3.03 MB |
Zimbabwe will not pull out of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in order to sell its stockpile of ivory tusks worth US$600 million, the Minister of Environment, Climate Change, Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Mangaliso Ndlovu, has said.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
ZIM_2020-06_Zimbabwe wont pull out of CITES_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 848.34 KB |
New research led by Elephants Without Borders (EWB) reveals that poaching of African elephants for their ivory has not decreased since 2011 in Western, Southern, and Central Africa. As a result, continued efforts to combat poaching will be necessary to save elephant populations. The new study was published June 23rd in Scientific Reports, in collaboration from researchers at the University of Washington and the Amboseli Trust for Elephants.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
BOT_2020-06_Elephant poaching is not decreasing in Africa_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 99.31 KB |
According to a police report compiled after his death, Brighton Munkombwe, 30, of Douglasdale in Bulawayo, collapsed at the entrance of the police charge offce last Friday. He was arrested after he was found with three kilogrammes of the deadly cyanide granules in a bag when he was cornered by an anti-poaching reaction team of police and rangers. The reaction team had received a tip-off that Munkombwe wanted to buy ivory from some villagers and laid an ambush in Gwayi. Four villagers who Munkombwe was suspected to have been trading with…
South Africa is deliberating over a radical review of their Meat Safety Act that wildlife activists fear could "pave the way" for elephants, rhinos, giraffes and every animal listed for human consumption.
Vigilant Mtubatuba police officers arrested two suspects in Khula Village, near St Lucia, for being in possession of elephant tusks.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
SA_2020-05_Elephant tusks South Africa_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 621.53 KB |
An extension of two weeks has been granted to the public to make submissions on the work of the high-level panel established to review policies, legislation and related practices on the management, breeding, hunting, trade and handling of elephant, lion, leopard and rhinoceros.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
SA_2020-05_Elephant management SA_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 658.77 KB |
Nyaradzo Hoto was just 20 when, with no money and nowhere to go, she was forced to drop out of school and get married. Over the next two years, she suffered at the hands of her violent husband; enslaved by his family, forced into hard labour, and used as a punch bag during his drunken fits of rage. But while she feared she may never escape her 'prison', Nyaradzo told LADbible how she gained the courage to find her voice and is now part of an elite squad in Zimbabwe, fighting to protect the world’s most endangered animals from extinction.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
ZIM_2020-05_Women anti-poaching Zimbabwe_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 741.89 KB |
South African traders with China are illegally selling thousands of wild animals threatened with extinction and endangered, under the guise of legal exports, according to an investigation. Monkeys have been stolen from the wild, and together with cheetahs, tigers, rhinos, lions and meerkats, they have been trafficked to circuses, theme parks, laboratories, zoos and "safari parks", researchers found.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
SA_2020-05_South Africa wildlife trade_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 175.93 KB |
A 27-year-old Mushumbi poacher was jailed 9 years by Guruve resident magistrate Shingirai Mutiro yesterday. Alan Pagan’a of Sedze village, Chief Chisunga in Mbire pleaded guilty to the charge. Prosecutor Albert Mazhindu told the court that on May 11 members of Zimparks received a tip off that Pagan’a was selling a pair of elephant tusks. The team proceeded to Sedze village purporting to be buyers, they approached the convict and he led them to a pit where he had hid the ivory.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
ZIM_2020-05_Elephant poacher Zimbabwe_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 529.42 KB |
Residents in Seronga village in Botswana’s North-West District have been warned of poisoned elephant carcasses. The Department of Wildlife and National Parks on Friday cautioned that there are elephant mortalities recorded in the areas surrounding the villages of Seronga, Gunotsoga and Eretsha.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
BOT_2020-05_Elephants poisoned Botswana_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 213.35 KB |
In Botswana, at least six rhinos have been poached since it closed its borders to limit the spread of coronavirus.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
BOT_2020-05_We need to tackle this illegal trade to prevent further pandemics_inews.pdf | 2.14 MB |
Four hundred rhinos will have their horns cut off for their protection.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
inews_2020-05_Secret dehorning programme to save endangered rhinos in Africa_inews.pdf | 2.59 MB |
Parliament has recommended amendments to the Wildlife Act to provide protection for whistleblowers and ensure stiff penalties for those found in possession of cyanide, a dangerous chemical often used by poachers to poison elephants.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
ZIM_2020-04_Zimbabwe Wildlife Act_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 876.27 KB |
There will be few positives to take from coronavirus. But the global pandemic may yet prove to be an important moment in the attempts to address the illegal wildlife trade. The media has generally concentrated on effects rather than causes, in particular the global implications for public health and economies. But it is also vital to unravel the timeline of the pandemic and categorically determine its initial cause.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
WORLWIDE_2020-03_Coronavirus illegal wildlife_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 1.95 MB |
A rhino poacher was sentenced to an effective 24 years imprisonment after he was convicted of 10 counts of rhino poaching, ve counts of theft, two counts of illegal possession of ammunition, illegal possession of rearm, possession of a prohibited rearm, cruelty to animals and money laundering by Free State High Court sitting in Virginia.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
SA_2020-02_Gauteng poacher gets 24 years for killing nine rhinos South Africa_Rhino Review.pdf | 902.58 KB |
Rothesay's Chris Morris lives in the East African country and follows poaching cases through the courts.
Attachment | Size |
---|---|
KEN_2021_11_Retired NM police officer now covers the war against poaching in Kenya_CBC News.pdf | 8.67 MB |