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Namibian Wildlife Crimes article archive

This archive of published media articles about wildlife crime in Namibia aims to:

  • provide easy public access to published information and statistics
  • enable easy stakeholder access to articles
  • provide a comprehensive archive of wildlife crime reporting in Namibia

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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Displaying results 1 - 13 of 13
Tuesday, 2 April 2024
2024. MEFT calls urgent meeting as 28 rhinos lost to poaching.

The Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism is currently conducting an assessment to determine the extent of rhino poaching. In light of the recent poaching incidents in the park, the ministry has also requested an urgent high-level meeting with the security cluster. To date, a total of 28 rhinos have been poached in Namibia. Out of these, 19 were poached in the Etosha National Park, while the remaining 10 were discovered during dehorning operations throughout the month of March.

Sunday, 10 December 2023
2023. Security cluster in Zambezi crackdown on wildlife crime.

Zambezi Region's law enforcement and security forces are making significant strides against wildlife crime. Today, seven individuals from Zambia were apprehended in the Kapani area with 18 tusks, along with the discovery of a .375 caliber firearm in their possession. These tusks, believed to be sourced from poached elephants in Botswana, mark the latest incident in a series of arrests within the past three weeks. The total number of intercepted elephant tusks in this region over the last three consecutive weeks now stands at 59.

Friday, 24 November 2023
2023. Zambezi police investigate poaching of elephants.

Police in the Zambezi Region apprehended a 37-year-old man found in possession of 24 elephant tusks during a joint operation with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism last night. The tusks are alleged to have come from Botswana, where the elephants were poached, and entered Namibia through the Batubaja Area in Linyanti Constituency. All 24 tusks were found loaded into a vehicle with an expired disc licence driven by a suspect who was allegedly called to provide transport after the car in which they were transported initially ran out of fuel.

Thursday, 26 October 2023
Xulu L 2023. Sentencing of three wildlife poachers hailed as a success.

The recent sentencing of three wildlife poachers has been hailed as a success in the anti-poaching efforts of the Greytown community. Farmers, SAPS and security companies working together to curb poaching in the Greytown area have welcomed the sentences handed down to three men aged between 27 and 42 years old, who were found guilty of illegal hunting by the Greytown Magistrate's Court. The three men were each sentenced to eight months' imprisonment or a R2 000 fine.

Wednesday, 8 February 2023
2023. MEFT intercepts a truck full of unprocessed timber intended for export to South Africa.

The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism intercepted a truck full of unprocessed timber last weekend in Windhoek, which was intended for export to South Africa. 1500 planks on the truck were confiscated and the transport permit was temporarily suspended pending further investigations to establish where the timber came from and if it was legally acquired. The Ministry introduced a moratorium on timber harvesting, transportation, marketing, and exporting in 2018.

Wednesday, 7 September 2022
2022. DA concerned over decline in rhino numbers at Kruger National Park.

The Kruger National Park rhino population has again decreased from 2 809 at the end of 2020 to 2 458 rhinos at present.

Saturday, 6 August 2022
Gumede M 2022. KZN's rhino population is being decimated by highly organised poachers.

Rhino poachers are heartless and kill every rhino they see - young or old, with of without a horn - just to get rid of them from the reserve and to "try and make their job easier", should they come back. This is according to Ezemvelo Wildlife spokesperson Musa Mntambo. This week, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment Barbara Creecy said that KwaZulu-Natal recorded a loss of 133 rhinos in the first half of the year - which is more than triple the 33 rhino killed in the first six months of 2021.

Wednesday, 3 August 2022
2022. Our Viewpoint - Rhino poaching.

Almost 260 rhino were poached for their hornsin South Africa in the firstsix months of this year.

Thursday, 28 July 2022
2022. Snare kills mother zebra and foal at Bisley Nature Reserve.

A zebra and its foal have been found dead, caught in the grip of a snare in the Bisley Nature Reserve.

Sunday, 12 June 2022
Xulu L 2022. Three alleged poachers arrested in Hluhluwe, KZN.

Three people were arrested for alleged poaching inside the Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park in the northern KwaZulu-Natal. This was confirmed by the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife on Sunday, which said the trio were arrested before they could kill a rhino. The first man was arrested on June 6 and two others were caught two days later. These arrest bring the number of alleged poachers caught inside the Hluhluwe iMfolozi Park this year to five. "The Park has been under siege since the beginning of 2022.

Sunday, 8 May 2022
Nxumalo S 2022. Six alleged poachers arrested in a Howick Farm in KZN.

Magma Security and Investigations said while their officers were patrolling in the Karkloof area, a suspicious vehicle was observed on a client’s property just after 2am, on Sunday morning. It said that upon stopping the vehicle, the officers found six occupants with six dogs. "They had poached and killed two warthogs and six porcupines. Knives were found in their possession. Suspects were handed over to Howick SAPS," said Magma Magma Security and Investigations.

Saturday, 11 December 2021
2021. SANParks warns of video of distressed rhino cow, shot and hacked by poachers.

The South African National Parks (SANParks) warned people on Saturday about a video circulating on social media depicting a "severely injured White Rhino cow", saying it was "distressing to watch". In a statement, SANParks said that its rhino dehorning team made the gruesome discovery of a badly mutilated female rhino in the South of the Kruger National Park (KNP) on Thursday. "According to the SANParks Veterinarian and the Section Ranger who attended to the rhino, it appeared as if the animal had been shot a few days prior to being found.

Wednesday, 17 March 2021
2021. SANParks welcomes sentences for rhino poaching related crimes.

South African National Parks (SANParks) has welcomed sentences imposed for rhino poaching related crimes in two separate cases that have been finalised in Mpumalanga.The trials were concluded in the Mhala regional court in February and March. In one matter three people who were arrested in August 2018 were convicted of rhino poaching related charges including possession of two sets of rhino horns, a high calibre hunting rifle, ammunition and trespassing in a national park with the intention of committing crime as well as the illegal hunting of an endangered animal.

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