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.
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With conservation funding affected by the lockdown, a number of areas in north-western Namibia’s rhino range have been left exposed by the lack of tourists thus requiring extra patrolling. With the donation of 1,000 ounces of gold by B2Gold, the launch of the B2Gold Rhino Gold Bar in January 2020 and the subsequent sale of 600 bars to local buyers, the B2Gold Rhino Gold Bar Advisory Committee has responded to the crisis.
The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) in collaboration with the Giraffe Conservation Foundation (GCF) translocated 30 giraffes to two communal conservancies and a national park within the month of June. Ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda in a statement this week said the translocation took place with the assistance from Du Preez Wild and funding by GCF and Wildlife Conservation Alliance. According to Muyunda the ministry captured and translocated 13 giraffes to Mangetti National Park in Kavango West; three to Okongo Conservancy in Ohangwena and 14…
Namibia has managed to arrest more than 1,790 suspected poachers of high valued and iconic species such as rhino and elephant at the end of 2018 up to May 2020, an official said this week.
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NAM_2020-06_More than 1790 poaching suspects netted over 2 years_Namibia Economist.pdf | 613.72 KB |
The Ministry and the UNDP said biodiversity is especially significant to Namibia with about 70% of people depending on natural resources based productive systems for survival. "Even though many livelihoods depend on the environment, more needs to be done to safeguard and foster its ability to sustain livelihoods," they said. According to the two, poaching is one of the biggest threats to the country’s natural environment as it threatens the population of our iconic wildlife species such as elephants and rhinos.
Poachers beware, local wildlife law enforcement has just taken a big leap with the acquisition of two Land Cruiser bakkies, courtesy of the American army, to bolster existing anti-poaching measures. The two bakkies were presented to conservation officials in the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism by Lieutenant Colonel John Lacy, the United States Defence Attaché in Namibia. The vehicles were donated by the US Department of Defence as part of the US Foreign Military financing programme for biodiversity.
While the rest of the country has been locked down for a considerable time, the rangers and game guards who protect Namibia’s wildlife could not drop their vigilance for a day.
COVID-19 has brought the world to its knees and is believed to have been caused by the consumption of an endangered animal. Now, South African Government is proposing an amendment to the Meat Safety Act which expands the list of animals that may be legally consumed by humans.
The proposed amended list classifies animals for slaughter, consumption, import, export and sale. This list now includes many threatened species in South Africa including rhino, elephant and giraffe. It also includes undefined birds, reptiles and fish.
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SA_2020-05_Government aims to legalise rhino consumption_Getaway.pdf | 369.89 KB |
The country's national parks will be closed for the duration of the lockdown until 5 May in compliance with the state of emergency declared by the President in reaction to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Ministry of Environment and Tourism, spokesperson, Romeo Muyunda, in a statement last week said during the duration, tour operations and guiding activities will not be allowed in the national parks which also includes closure of accommodation establishments.
During last year, an estimated 12 elephants and 45 rhinos were poached during 2019, the ministry of environment and tourism’s wildlife crime report of 2019 shows. The ministry seized 116 elephant tusks and 8 rhino horns during the year, however, the reported notes that the number of elephant tusks seized does not relate directly to the number of elephants killed in Namibia, as some tusks may originate from elephants killed in neighbouring countries. The year under review saw wildlife crime cases registered (high-value species only) at 174 with 92 cases related to…
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NAM_2020-04_12 elephants 45 rhinos poached in 2019_Namibia Economist.pdf | 543.98 KB |
A critically endangered Namibian mammal is receiving international attention with the release this week of an investigative report detailing the ongoing largescale tracking in this group of species. The eight species of pangolins or scaly anteaters are found across Africa, the middle East and South Asia. All eight species are widely pouched for their scales, believed by superstitious Orientals to have medicinal value. In fact, the scales are just compressed hair meaning they consist of keratin.
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NAM_2020-02_ African Ietermagog goes to China by the tonnes_load_Namibia Economist.pdf | 483.54 KB |
The Ministry of Environment Forestry and Tourism with immediate effect will issue transport permits for already harvested timber destined for the local market, an official announced Thursday. The Minister of Environment Forestry and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta at a media briefing Thursday said no export permits will be issued for unprocessed or semi-processed timber.
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NAM_2020_08_New timber harvesting activities will remain prohibited_ Namibia Economist.pdf | 267.35 KB |
Local short film, ‘Baxu and the Giants’ will have its first public screening of the year at the DHPS Auditorium, on Thursday, 6 February. Entrance is free but any donations to the Save the Rhino Trust will be welcome.
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NAM_2020-02_Anti_rhino poaching short film to screen at DHPS next week_Namibia Economist.pdf | 619.62 KB |
The Ministry of Environment and Tourism has recorded 26 poaching incidents since January, according to the ministry’s spokesperson Romeo Muyunda this week. According to the statistics, seven elephants and 19 rhinos were poached since January. In May, the ministry recorded 18 incidents in which eight animals were killed.
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NAM_2019-07_Seven elephants 19 rhinos poached since January_Namibia Economist.pdf | 2.16 MB |
There are worrying signs that Namibia’s legendary wild game numbers may be plummeting. Four years ago the Namibian Professional Hunters Association raised an alarm about the lack of huntable elephant bulls in the Caprivi region, where the number of communal conservancies had grown from one in 1997 to 15 today.
The Ministry of Environment has recorded nine poaching incidents since January this year, six involving rhinos and three involving elephants, a government spokesperson said last week, as reported by Xinhua. Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Romeo Muyunda, said the poaching incidents mainly occurred in private and custodian farms; no poaching was recorded in the national parks.
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NAM_2019-03_Nine poaching cases recorded since January_Namibia Economist.pdf | 2.13 MB |