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Two men are expected to appear in the Vryheid magistrate's court after they were arrested with two rhino horns and a rie hidden in their car's engine compartment. KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Lt-Col Nqobile Gwala said ofcers acted on information about the suspects and spotted their vehicle on the R34 travelling towards Vryheid and a high-speed chase ensued.

A high-speed chase forced three suspects to abandon their vehicle, rhino horn, communications tower battery, silencer, firearm and ammunition while evading arrest. They were intercepted by Volksrust, Mpumalanga, police conducting a stop and search operation at 10pm in Mandela Drive on Monday, police said.

The Limpopo endangered species unit arrested three suspects after were allegedly found in possession of a pangolin in Bochum n Sunday. They were charged with wildlife trafficking and contravening the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, Members of the unit, acting on a tip-off arrested the three suspects who were trying to sell the pangolin.

Two former government officials have been sentenced for corruption and money laundering linked to the abalone trade, the Hawks confirmed on Saturday. The officials, Winston Mervin Busch and Nomvuyo Concellia Motloung, were among a group of 18 suspects arrested in a 2018 swoop on an abalone syndicate operating in the Western Cape. The group comprised several marine inspectors from the department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, as well as several members of an abalone poaching syndicate, the Hawks said. Twelve of the group have now been sentenced.

Cape Town police arrested a 43-year-old man for operating an illegal abalone processing facility at a house in Constantia. They seized abalone worth about R2m.

A poacher from Mozambique has been convicted and sentenced to 22 years in prison for killing two rhinos in the Kruger National Park.

Satellite-tagged vultures uncover two suspected poisoning incidents near Kafue National Park. Conservation groups alongside Africa Parks and Zambia's Department of National Parks and Wildlife have been using a myriad of tools to protect Kafue's wildlife, including deploying some 40 anti-poaching patrol teams. One of the more innovative approaches is tagging white-backed and hooded vultures with satellite trackers to quickly alert wildlife managers of poached or poisoned carcasses.

A 51-year-old man is expected to appear in a Free State court after he was found with abalone shells worth more than R300,000. The man was arrested in Bayswater in Mangaung on Thursday afternoon after intelligence-led information led police to his home, Free State police spokesperson Lt-Col Thabo Covane said. "A team made up of tactical response team members and detectives arrived at the targeted unit in the identified complex at about 12.45pm." Members tactically gained access to the unit and found the male hiding inside the bedroom.

A 33-year-old man has been jailed for five years after being caught transporting rhino horns to Johannesburg on June 22 last year.

Eastern Cape police have arrested two suspects for possession of abalone worth R1.8m in Gqeberha.

The number of endangered rhinos poached in Namibia reached an all-time high last year after 87 animals were killed compared to 45 in 2021, official government data showed on Monday. The ministry of environment, forestry and tourism spokesperson Romeo Muyunda said poachers killed 61 black and 26 white rhinos mainly in Namibia's largest park, Etosha, where 46 rhinos were found dead.

A sea, air and mountain (Seam) special operations ranger was injured by a suspected poacher who was resisting arrest at the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) in the early hours of Tuesday. About 11.30pm on Monday, the park's operations room staff received information about suspected poachers operating in the park’s marine protected area near Glencairn. "Seam operators responded and, with the assistance of the police, successfully stopped a vehicle suspected of being involved in the incident," South African National Parks said in a statement.

Court, to two Mozambican nationals convicted for rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park (KNP), after they had killed a rhino and were found in possession of its fresh horns four months ago. Lucky Shihlangu (33) and Sergio Mathebula (32) were found guilty, and sentenced to a total of 22 years but will serve 18 years effectively. They faced six charges related to the case and were found guilty on all six charges.

Pongola Game Reserve East (PGRE) in KwaZulu-Natal will move about 69 elephants back onto its property to other protected areas to stem a bloody poaching war. Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife said they will engage the game reserve to relocate them as soon as protected areas with adequate carrying capacity for elephants have been identified. This was an attempt to resolve the long-standing human/wildlife conflict caused by elephants from the private game reserve and has contributed to the rise in elephant poaching incidents.

The Pongola Lake in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa, has erupted into an elephant poaching 'slaughterhouse', says the DA, as it calls again for national intervention. "Armed groups of poachers have now completely laid siege to the eastern shores of the lake, with several elephant carcasses recently found while dozens of gunshots have also been reported in the region. “Guards near the eSwatini border have allegedly also come under attack and infrastructure damaged and torched by the armed gang."

In August 2019, the rangers were doing their daily routine in Stolznek section using a helicopter when the accused were spotted. They were found in possession of a firearm, ammunition and hunting weapons and were arrested. In aggravation of sentence, prosecutor Lot Mgiba handed in a ballistics report which revealed the firearm that was found in his possession was meant to poach rhinos. Though Sithlangu was sentenced to 14 years for these offences, the court ordered that the terms run concurrently, resulting in an effective 11-year jail term.

South African National Parks (SANParks) today welcomed the heavy sentencing of a rhino poacher by the Skukuza Regional Court, to a total of 52 years in prison for rhino poaching and related offences.

Four men have appeared in court after allegedly being found in possession of two rhino horn and a rifle silencer in Sannieshof, North West, on Tuesday night.

The public has been cautioned not to approach the seven men who escaped through an open window from a Makhanda (Grahamstown) prison during the early hours on Tuesday as they are considered to be dangerous. The department of correctional services and the police are hunting for the seven inmates, all in prison for serious offences, including rhino poaching, murder and robbery.

The US has imposed sanctions against a Malaysian group, accusing it of engaging in "the cruel trafficking of endangered and threatened wildlife and the products of brutal poaching". The Treasury department said on Friday it has designated Malaysian national Teo Boon Ching, the Teo Boon Ching wildlife trafficking transnational criminal organisation and Malaysian company Sunrise Greenland. Teo Boon Ching specialises in the transportation of rhino horn, ivory and pangolins from Africa. It uses routes through Malaysia and Laos to reach customers in Vietnam and China, the department…

CapeNature is taking proactive steps to ensure the Western Cape's precious biodiversity is protected, following the shocking escalation in succulent and other plant poaching, which has seen hundreds of thousands of plants being stolen from South Africa. The poaching has increased hugely since 2018, with most of these plants being destined for the Asian market.

As the world celebrates Rhino Day on Thursday, anti-poaching organisation Saving the World has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to acknowledge allegations of bribery against suspended KwaZulu-Natal regional court president Eric Nzimande. World Rhino Day seeks to create awareness of and find new ways to stop poaching, and keep the endangered species from extinction.

Law enforcement agencies globally must address rhino horn trafficking as transnational organised crime, with an increased focus on the higher-level actors in the supply chain. This was the main message that emerged from a joint webinar hosted by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) SA and the Wildlife Justice Commission to mark World Rhino Day on Thursday. Malaysian customs officials say they have seized a stash of rare animal parts worth $18 million thought to have come from Africa, including elephant tusks, rhino horns and pangolin scales.

A tourist who heard gunshots in the Kruger National Park helped rangers arrest three suspected poachers after they allegedly killed and dehorned rhinos.

Two suspected poachers were killed in a shoot-out with Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) rangers in Chirundu at the weekend. ZimParks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo said the poachers were killed and "freshly poached ivory" was recovered.

Three men convicted on 12 charges related to rhino poaching have been sentenced to a combined 63 years in prison.

Commissioned six years ago and kept under lock and key by the Office of the KZN Premier until now, the hidden report into rhino poaching in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has been partially released to the Democratic Alliance (DA) following extensive pressure. At last count, rhino poaching figures this year so far (just over four months) have surpassed the total for 2021, with 108 rhino killed by poachers for their horns which are smuggled to countries like China and Vietnam.

On April 1 the number of rhinos poached in Hluhluwe-uMfolozi Park, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), since the 1st of January was 60. It's just one month later, and that already horrific number has shockingly jumped to 94 (actually 95, as of yesterday). Imagine how many rhinos will now not be born because of those that have been killed in Hluhluwe-uMfolozi just this year! Every rhino counts.

A South African woman leaving the country for Dubai was nabbed this week with 12 rhino horns in her luggage at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, according to the SA Revenue Service (Sars).

A game farmer has been fined R240,000 after pleading guilty to four charges relating to illegal hunting, possession and translocation of game. Ryan Wall, 48, from Durbanville, Cape Town, was sentenced in the Malmesbury regional court on Wednesday. A further fine of R930,000 was suspended for five years. CapeNature said the charges related to illegal activities in 2015 and 2016 on Wall's game farm in Doornfontein, near Darling. "In 2015, Wall was caught hunting two trophy eland bulls outside the hunting season and without permits.

A 34-year-old KwaZulu-Natal man appeared in the Ubombo magistrate's court for allegedly killing a crocodile.

At least 71 rhino have been poached this year alone in Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife parks, putting KZN on the road to the species facing extinction in the region within the next five years!

South African National Parks (SANParks) today, 19 March 2022, welcomed the sentence meted out by the Skukuza Regional Court to a man convicted on 12 counts associated with poaching. The accused, Mike Nyathi, a 39 year old Mozambican man with a South African citizenship, faced 14 charges relating to two separate cases of rhino poaching.

Two poachers caught with a high-powered rifle and poaching equipment close to the carcasses of two rhinos have each been sentenced to 23 years in jail. The Mozambicans were arrested in the Satara section of the Kruger National Park in May 2019 by rangers.

DNA testing on seized ivory shipments that reveals family ties among African elephants killed for their tusks is helping to identify poaching areas and trafficking networks at the centre of an illegal trade that continues to devastate the population of earth's largest land animal.

A former KwaZulu-Natal cop has been convicted and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for a 2018 incident in which he was found in possession of an unlicensed firearm and rhino horns.

"It is not uncommon for the money flows associated with illegal wildlife trade (IWT) to be linked to other crimes, such as fraudulent documentation or paperwork, trade-based money laundering including over-, under-, or fictitious invoicing, as well as corruption to facilitate the inflow of funds into SA," said the report. It emphasised that wildlife and wildlife products from SA are in high demand globally, with China and other Asian countries representing the largest markets.

Four suspected rhino poachers were arrested over the weekend (15-18 October) in the Kruger National Park, thanks to the brave efforts of members of the Rangers Corp, assisted by the K9 Unit and the Aviators of the Airwing. The arrests - as well as one fatality - took place in the Stolznek section of the Park, South African National Parks (SANParks) said in an announcement today.

As we celebrate World Rhino Day today - 22 September - we recognise the pioneering technological innovations that are proving to be highly effective in protecting Africa’s threatened rhino populations from poachers.

Klerksdorp, South Africa (Reuters) - South Africa's largest private rhino breeder - John Hume - says he has kept the rhino on his farm safe from poachers for four and a half years but cannot continue if he is not allowed to sell their horns.

Three rhino poachers were yesterday sentenced to 105 years in prison by the Skukuza Regional Court, for rhino poaching and related offences. The South African National Parks (SANParks) today, 3 September, welcomed the sentencing.

An illegal abalone dealer has been declared an undesirable person in SA after his conviction on a slew of charges.

Authorities have recovered lion teeth and claws from a suspected illegal wildlife trader. The Vietnamese man was arrested during raids in Bela-Bela and Pretoria after a four-month probe by analysts and wildlife investigators. The suspect was also arrested for illegal possession of a firearm.

Two suspected rhino poachers were arrested on a farm in Vierfontein in the Free State on Thursday, provincial police said.

Minister of Environment Barbara Creecy today released the latest rhino poaching statistics for South Africa, whilst also paying tribute to SANParks' rangers, including those rangers who tragically died over the past year. Minister of Environment Barbara Creecy today released the latest rhino poaching statistics for South Africa, whilst also paying tribute to SANParks’ rangers, including those rangers who tragically died over the past year.

They were bust with about R500,000 worth of rhino horn. The regional court in Gqeberha sentenced Jonathan Jeremy Perring, 37, Keanon Terblanche, 28, and Christo Shaun Swartz, 30, on Thursday.

With lockdown restrictions eased since last year, the rhino poaching war has certainly heated up in South Africa. The last seven days have been hectic - a suspected rhino poaching kingpin gunned down just before appearing in court, three suspected poachers arrested in separate incidents (with tourists helping report them), and at least 21 poaching related incidents taking place in the Kruger National Park (KNP) - as well as one successful conviction.

SA National Parks (SANParks) on Friday welcomed the 23-year prison sentence handed to a rhino poacher by the Skukuza regional court prosecuting team. Alsony Alberto Valoyi, an illegal immigrant from Mozambique, pleaded guilty to six charges related to rhino poaching after being arrested inside the Kruger National Park (KNP) in November 2016.

SANParks announced today (5 June 2021) that well executed operations at the end of May led to the arrest of four suspected poachers. The first incident was last weekend, on Sunday 30 May in the Pretoriuskop Section, and the other on Monday in the Houtboschrand Section, both located in the South of the Kruger National Park (KNP). SANParks said that rangers (with K9 support) responded last Sunday to a visual of two suspected rhino poachers and went in pursuit of them.

The Hawks have arrested a suspect for possession of ivory in Cape Town. Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani said detectives responded to a tipoff and bust the suspect on Friday in the suburb of Table View. Hani said the Hawks had teamed up with the department of agriculture, forestry and fisheries officials.