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Bulk shipments by sea accounted for most of the illegal wildlife parts seized by authorities around the world in 2022. The data, from U.S.-based nonprofit C4ADS, also show that seizures of elephant ivory, rhino horn and pangolin scales haven’t yet returned to pre-pandemic levels. However, the decline isn’t uniform across all countries, with China's late reopening from the pandemic this year indicating there might be an increase in trafficking in 2023, especially of ivory. C4ADS has called on law enforcement officials to focus on investigating…

Akashinga rangers, domiciled in Zimbabwe's Zambezi Valley have recovered 24 pangolins and 118 elephant tusks from raids on poachers since last year in Mashonaland West.

International Rhino Foundation (IRF) communications director Christopher Whitlatch said: "Zimbabwean rhino poachers have been involved in major illegal activities in South Africa. "Taking the Eastern Cape as an example, the Zimbabwean rhino poaching gang that recently escaped from jail had been convicted for killing and dehorning numerous rhinos in hit-and-run incidents in that province. "Other cross-border rhino crimes include South African criminals operating in Zimbabwe," he said

Poaching has more than doubled this year in South Africa’s Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, the birthplace of white rhino conservation. Conservationists say poaching syndicates have turned their attention to this and other parks in KwaZulu-Natal province because rhino numbers in Kruger National Park, the previous epicenter of rhino poaching, have been drastically reduced, and private reserves around Kruger are dehorning their animals. Hluhluwe-Imfolozi is a very challenging game reserve for anti-poaching patrols to defend, exacerbated by leadership issues in Ezemvelo, the…

Poisons like cyanide can be a deadly weapon for poachers, allowing them to kill dozens of animals without needing access to firearms or the backing of criminal syndicates. Wildlife poisoning is on the rise across Africa, targeting elephants as well as pushing endangered vultures toward extinction. A new study says Zimbabwe, which a decade ago witnessed some of the deadliest mass poisonings of elephants, has developed a sound basis for curbing poisonings by tightening laws to criminalize intent to use poison to kill wildlife.

Nationally South Africa lost 259 rhino in the first six months of this year - 10 more than in the corresponding period last year - with concern expressed about the amount of poaching in KwaZulu-Natal and private game reserves. Forestry, Fisheries and Environment Minister Barbara Creecy maintains the "trend" away from what has long been poacher target number one - the Kruger National Park - makes it "important for national government to shift its focus to supporting provincial authorities and private reserves in the war on rhino poaching".

In late June 2002, the container ship MOL Independence docked at a Singapore port after a voyage of almost a month from Durban in South Africa. On board was a consignment which had been on a far longer journey. Beginning in an industrial area on the outskirts of Lilongwe, the capital of landlocked Malawi in southern Africa, the container was taken by road to the port of Beira in neighboring Mozambique and loaded onto a feeder vessel to Durban. According to the Bill of Lading, its contents were stone sculptures.

A three-year investigation has led authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo to 2 metric tons of ivory hidden in a stash house in the southern city of Lubumbashi. The tusks are valued at $6 million on the international market and estimated to have come from more than 150 elephants. The three people arrested in the May 14 raid are allegedly members of a major wildlife trafficking ring in the Southern African region.

Rhino poaching in South Africa is at a critical level despite a "deafening" silence from official government communications and mainstream media, one of southern Africa’s most dedicated and respected wildlife vets Dr Dave Cooper maintains. Referring to the violent killing of rhino as "murders" rather than the mild, mundane "poaching", he issued a massive cry for action before it's too late, begging the world to wake up, see and stop what is happening in South Africa, according to Rhino Review. His plea comes days after witnessing possibly the "worst…

In January 2021, Nigeria seized pangolin scales and tusks and bones from endangered species hidden in a container of furniture materials. The seized materials are used in traditional Chinese medicine despite having no medicinal value. Studies have suggested that pangolins, the most-smuggled animals in the world, may have been an intermediate host of the coronavirus that was discovered in an outdoor farmers market in Wuhan, China, in late 2019. Customs officials said the contraband consisted of 162 sacks of pangolin scales and 57 sacks of mixed animal parts, including ivory and…

South African National Parks (SANParks) today (10 December) said its Environmental Crime Investigation Unit (ECI) in collaboration with the South African Police Service (SAPS) Directorate of Priority Crime Investigations (DPCI), conducted a series of intelligence driven operations which led to the arrest of eight suspected poachers in October and November in villages adjacent to the Kruger National Park (KNP).

South Africa is no stranger to wildlife crime as shown in Operation Thunder, an Interpol-led effort against environmental crime in the broadest sense of the words. The worldwide enforcement operation against wildlife and timber crime co-ordinated by Interpol and the World Customs Organisation (WCO) disrupted crime networks and saw hundreds of arrests internationally, the France-headquartered policing body said.

At the peak of the rhino poaching war in South Africa in 2015 and 2016, poachers slaughtered nearly three rhinos a day. Although that rate has declined, the numbers are still disheartening and unsustainable, with poachers killing at least one rhino every day. Some conservationists have looked to drones as a potentially powerful tool in anti-poaching efforts, with the technology continuing to evolve. But experts say it isn’t at the level yet where it can meet the challenge, and that while it can be helpful, conservation efforts must continue to engage and educate local…

Among its many responsibilities as custodian of South Africa's natural heritage, the national conservation agency SANParks ensures the survival of rhino, black and white, in the face of continued poaching of this Big Five species. This responsibility, Democratic Alliance (DA) shadow forestry, fisheries and environment minister Dave Bryant maintains, is at least partially undermined by the agency’s setting of a rhinos poached "target".

One of the world's most infamous ivory traffickers will remain in prison in Tanzania after an appeal judge sent her case back to a lower court. The high court accepted there were anomalies in the original written judgment against Yang Fenglan, but declined her attorney's application for her release. Between 2009 and 2014, poachers reduced Tanzania’s elephant population by 60%, according to a government census. In response, Tanzania developed a strategy of intelligence-led investigations.

Once known as the world's elephant killing fields, Tanzania appears to have halted the worst ivory poaching within its borders, making more than 2,300 arrests of poachers and traffickers over five years.

South African National Parks (SANParks) has announced further arrests of suspected poachers in the Kruger National Park (KNP), with four men apprehended. The four suspected poachers were arrested on Sunday 30 May in the Pretoriuskop Section and on Monday 31 May in the Houtboschrand Section of the park. On 30 May, rangers (with K9 support) responded to a visual of two poachers and made a follow up in pursuit of the suspected rhino poachers. The Airwing Unit was called in to support the ground teams; and soon thereafter two suspects were arrested without incident.

South African National Parks (SANParks) has welcomed the finalization of two long running rhino poaching trials by the Skukuza Regional Court. One rhino poacher was sentenced on 14 May whilst three, including a former SANParks employee, were sentenced on 17 May respectively. Nito Mathebula was arrested in Tshokwane Section in January 2019 while hunting in the Park illegally. Two of his accomplices managed to evade arrest. He was found guilty of trespassing in a National Park, breaking the Immigration Act and the killing of a rhino.

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has deployed to the Overstrand region of the Western Cape to combat poaching and related crime in conjunction with local law enforcement and other roleplayers. The SANDF said Joint Tactical Headquarters Western Cape launched Operation Corona in the Overstrand on 6 May together with the Maritime Reaction Squadron, local law enforcement and Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries. The main goal is to stop the poaching of marine resources and enforce maritime security.

South African National Parks (SANParks) has announced another operation that led to the arrest of three suspected poachers on Wednesday 21 April in the Crocodile Bridge Section of the Kruger National Park (KNP). A high calibre hunting rifle, ammunition and poaching equipment were seized during the successful operation.

The coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic has created a profound crisis for conservation efforts in eastern and southern Africa as a result of the sudden cessation of all international travel in a region where nature-based tourism and conservation are closely interdependent.  The region’s unique wildlife populations and other natural assets — centered on spectacular landscapes such as the Serengeti and Okavango — underpin a multi-billion dollar 'wildlife…