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The illegal trade in Cape pangolin scales amongst East African nations is suspected to be the driving force behind the unlawful killing of the creatures in Botswana.

Francistown: Two men from Zimbabwe appeared in court Tuesday to face a count of capturing a protected game animal and another for entering Botswana unlawfully. According to the charge sheet, Kelvi Maposa, 43, and Matitshidza Sibanda, 33, both unemployed and from Plumtree in Zimbabwe, being persons not licensed, authorised or exempted unlawfully captured a pangolin being a protected game animal without a permit to do so.

Tsabong Police Station Commander, Superintendent Christopher Tlhapi-David says the recent interception of poachers by his team in which the suspects were later found in possession of a pangolin, signals concern for other protected species.

Zimbabwe has started removing the horns of its entire rhino population to deter poaching. The de-horning process of more than 1,000 animals is being done by veterinarians from the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, according to its spokesman Tinashe Farawo. They will be cut off after the rhinos have been anesthetized, and typically grow back within a year.

The Botswana government is moving rhinos out of the Okavango Delta after a surge in poaching that has seen 92 of the endangered animals killed in the past two years, compared to just seven in 2010 to 2018. The delta is one of two World Heritage Sites in the southern African country, a 20,000 square-kilometer (7,700 square-mile) wetland populated by 130 animal species, including white and black rhinos. It's Botswana's premier tourist attraction and the rhinos are a major drawcard.

Franzistown: A tenderpreneur has pleaded with the court to be lenient when sentencing him after pleading guilty to illegal possession of an elephant tusk.

Francistown: It is more than two years since the state successfully appealed the case of the alleged SADC poaching ringleader, Dumisani Moyo, on urgency but has not acted on the appeal thereafter. In May 2019, Magistrate Lebogang Kebeetsweng acquitted and discharged Moyo of allegedly unlawfully being found in possession of a rhinoceros horn contrary to Section 70 of the Wildlife Conservation and National Parks Act.

The Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) director Kabelo Senyatso has strongly refuted claims by former president Ian Khama that 120 rhinos have been poached in the last 18 months.

BDF is investigating a case in which the suspected poacher allegedly stabbed the soldier with a sharp object during an anti-poaching operation.

Interactive software that 'reads' and analyzes footprints left by black rhinoceroses can be used to monitor the movements of the animals in the wild, giving conservationists a new way to keep watch on the endangered species and help keep it safe from poachers, according to a new study.

The dogs, who vary from a beagle to bloodhound, began training from birth before working at 18 months-old at the Southern African Wildlife College in Greater Kruger National Park.

Botswana Defence Force (BDF) soldier and a poacher have died during a poaching incident that happened early this morning at Chiefs Island in heart of the Okavango Delta, the army has confirmed.

Shoot-to-kill policies just don’t work, are immoral and unlawful too. To my knowledge, the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) and Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) anti-poaching squads have killed well over 60 alleged poachers since the late 1980s with no discernible effect.