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In 2019, Malawi dismantled the Chinese-led Lin-Zhang wildlife trafficking syndicate, a major win in its fight against the illegal wildlife trade, thanks in part to funding from the U.S. government. The Trump administration’s recent slashing of international development funds, however, threatens these gains, leaving frontline enforcers and conservation programs without critical support. NGOs across Africa and Southeast Asia, running initiatives from sniffer rat programs to antipoaching patrols, tell Mongabay they're struggling to fill the funding gap.

The battle between mining and conservation tourism rages on in the dry rocky plains of the Sorris Sorris Conservation Area, the High Court in Windhoek and in the boardroom of the Namibian Competition Commission (NaCC). At stake are promising tin deposits that could mean big bucks from increasing global demand, as opposed to preserving the natural beauty of the area where the endangered black rhinos roam. Community-driven tourism and their private-sector partners strive to keep their symbiotic relationship with the rhinos alive. "Get rid of us and the rhinos are gone with the…

A group of highly endangered black rhinos is protected until 6 March to be peacefully protected by the conservation areas - Sorris Sorris, Uibasen Twyfelfontein and Doro ! Nawas - to walk. Then the court dispute will proceed to determine whether mining operations may continue in this area. Acting High Court Judge Anne-Doris Hans-Kaumbi ordered on Tuesday that the trial over planned open-pit tin mines in the area will not proceed until March. Until then, interdicts against further development of any new mining operations in the area remain in force.

Police and wildlife department officials in Malawi have arrested two men suspected of having killed an elephant in Kasungu National Park in the country's west.

An 18-year-old man has been arrested and 20 kg of elephant tusks valued at Sh2 million recovered at a roadblock in Loruk, Baringo county. The suspect had stashed the tusks in a gunny bag when he was arrested on March 31, police said. Police said he was arrested in in Loruk trading centre in a public service vehicle. He will be arraigned and charged with being in possession of wildlife trophies of endangered species contrary to section 92 (4) of the Wildlife Conservation Management Act 2013.

A major shipment of 651 pieces of elephant ivory has been seized in Mozambique en route to Dubai. Officials from Mozambique's Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) and the Tax Authority intercepted a container at Maputo port on 22 March 2024 and found the ivory concealed in a shipment of bags of corn. This is the third known large-scale seizure of elephant ivory exported from Mozambique since 2022.

Police arrest six suspected rhino poachers in Limpopo and Gauteng; recover horns, guns and ammunition.

National Botanical Garden curator Leevi Nanyeni has called on Namibians to support the fight against the growing trend of poaching of vulnerable and indigenous plants. Namibia is home to some of the world's most unique plant species, all categorised, catalogued and preserved at the National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) in the capital. "These days, we are increasingly dealing with plant poaching," Nanyeni said. "Plant poaching has become a tendency. I am already aware of up to ten registered cases of it – just between 2019 and 2023.

Die Nasionale Botaniese Tuin se kurator, Leevi Nanyeni, het 'n beroep op Namibiërs gedoen om die stryd teen die toenemende stropery van inheemse en kwesbare plante te ondersteun. Namibië huisves van die wêreld se mees unieke plantspesies, wat almal by die Nasionale Botaniese Navorsingsinstituut (NBRI) in die hoofstad gekategoriseer, gekatalogiseer en bewaar word. Nanyeni het kommer uitgespreek oor die groeiende tendens van plantstropery.

The Hawks have arrested a second suspect allegedly linked to the stockpile hit at the North West Parks Board headquarters in Mafikeng last week. According to a Daily Maverick source, the suspect was apprehended in a planned operation near Brits at about 9pm on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning the arrest was confirmed by a senior SAPS officer who did not want to be identified.

Conservationists are raising serious questions about crime scene protocols - and the sense in stockpiling rhino horn - after a report claimed the police took eight hours to respond to a burglary at the North West Parks Board on Monday. In what is being described as a well-planned heist executed with military precision, thieves broke into the Heritage House headquarters of the North West Parks Board in the early hours of Monday and stole 51 rhino horns worth millions of rands on the Asian black market.

Wildlife officials have hailed the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) recent decision to appeal what it called the lenient sentences handed to two rhino poachers in May, as well as the jailing this week of one of the men in a separate case.

The national prosecuting authority (NPA) has reinstated charges and re-enrolled an eight-year-old case against known rhino poacher Gideon (aka Deon) van Deventer, after it emerged the original case had been quashed and struck from the roll under dubious circumstances. The state’s 2014 Bronkhorstspruit firearms case against Van Deventer was re-opened in June this year after a whistle-blower tipped off law enforcement authorities and court officials about a miscarriage of justice that occurred at the Bronkorstspruit magistrate’s court on 24 July 2015.

A long-serving nature conservation official and a former policeman have been charged in connection with illegally transporting 17 rhino horns from the Northern Cape to North West province in contravention of permit conditions.

Outrage greeted the early release of notorious Thai trafficker Chumlong Lemtongthai, who used false South African hunting permits to launder rhino horns. Simon Bloch reports.