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At least 35 suspected poachers have been arrested after being implicated in the killing of five elephants in Ruaha National Park in Tanzania's central region of Iringa. Halima Dendego, the Iringa regional commissioner, said late Wednesday that the suspects were apprehended during a joint anti-poaching operation conducted from Nov. 11 to Nov. 20. The operation was collaboratively undertaken by game rangers from the Ruaha National Park, Iringa region officials, the Tanzania Intelligence and Security Services, and the police, Dendego said.

Data from the Kenya Wildlife Service indicates that between 2014 and 2022, dogs led to the documentation of 102 incidents of wildlife trafficking. About 114 people linked to these incidents were arrested and prosecuted during the period. "The dogs are key in deterring these crimes. These cases have gone down because traffickers are now aware of the strict security deployed in our borders, airports, and even ports.

Kigali: For many years, East African countries were considered wildlife trafficking hotspots. Now conservation organisations have started to mobilise all stakeholders to combat the illegal trade that targets animals – some to the edge of extinction.

Revelations by Centre for Environment Justice that there are between 4,000 and 6,000 active poachers in Kafue National Park alone is very distressing not only to wildlife defenders but all Zambians. What is so heart-breaking is the fact that wildlife poaching is not a new phenomenon in Zambia. It dates back to the 1950s, from which time to date over 90 percent of the country's elephants have been killed. Estimates by experts indicate that in the 1980s, elephant numbers dropped from a quarter of a million to just 18,000.

Buyers are being offered more than 200 species of animals threatened with extinction or declining population on social media platforms by illegal wildlife traders. The animals are then transported by air out of Africa and in some instance, by boat.

The Chief Resident Magistrate Court in Lilongwe has set 27 September, 2021, as the day for delivering judgement against a Chinese national, Yunhua Lin, who is answering charges of money laundering and rhino horn trafficking. Lin came to Malawi as an investor like many do but without proper screening and vetting, the country let in a criminal who is destroying our current and future economy. Lin is a member of one of Southern Africa’s most prolific wildlife trafficking syndicates, which has been operating out of Malawi for at least a decade.

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.

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.

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.

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.