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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.

A new investigation by wildlife trade monitoring group TRAFFIC has uncovered an "alarming" slew of online adverts offering illegal wildlife products for sale in Vietnam, despite pledges from multiple platforms to clamp down on such content. The report, based on monitoring of social media groups and e-commerce platforms in Vietnam between June 2021 and July 2023, focuses on items made from body parts of elephants, rhinos, pangolins, tigers, tortoises and freshwater turtles.

Fifteen people accused of financial crimes related to rhino poaching briefly appeared in the Nelspruit Commercial Crimes Court on Monday. Among the accused were two former field rangers and some of their relatives. While the majority of the respondents appear to be from a humble background, almost all of them are represented by private advocates. Although the State was ready to commence with trial proceedings, the matter was provisionally postponed to February 27 for possible pretrial conference.

Four days of court transcriptions seem be missing in the trial of alleged rhino poaching kingpin Joseph Nyalungu and his three remaining co-accused, Claude Lubisi, Aretha Mhlanga and Rachel Qwebana. This emerged as the quartet of former police officers briefly appeared in the Mpumalanga High Court this morning, January 17. Their appearance follows a postponement late last year to settle financial instructions in a trial that commenced more than three years ago, in September 2021.

While visitors to the Kruger Park were enjoying their peaceful festive season bush breaks, poachers were quietly mowing down rhinos within the Intensive Protection Zone. A staggering 27% of all rhinos poached in the Kruger National Park last year is understood to have been slaughtered in December. Three of these were slaughtered for their horns around Christmas, and another at New Year’s Eve, leaving two young calves orphaned.

Community-led antitrafficking networks are proving pivotal in helping authorities intercept poachers targeting critically endangered and endemic tortoises in southern Madagascar’s fast-disappearing spiny forests. Illegal hunting, both for their meat and to supply the pet trade, has decimated the species’ population in recent decades. Indigenous people living in the range of the imperiled species are motivated to protect them due to long-standing traditional beliefs that value and respect the tortoises.

The recent seizure in Thailand of 48 lemurs and more than 1,200 critically endangered tortoises endemic to Madagascar underscores the global scale of wildlife trafficking networks that use Thailand as a transshipment hub. The operation was aided by intelligence from a joint transnational investigation between Thai law enforcement agencies and international antitrafficking organizations working to dismantle global wildlife trafficking networks spanning Asia, Africa and South America.

Police and wildlife authorities in Malawi have arrested two men suspected of having killed an elephant in Kasungu National Park. Residents of villages just outside the park's boundaries informed police about two men selling elephant meat, who were subsequently found in possession of 16.6 kg (36.6 lbs) of ivory.

Caught with a mother pangolin and its child in his home village near Nata on 19 November 2022, 33-year-old Othusitse Baile will forgo his freedom for the next four years.

Two Zimbabwean men have been remanded in custody after they were found in possession of a live pangolin.

A sense of remorse and a convincing mitigation statement have saved a convicted ivory dealer from a lengthy jail term as he got off lightly with a reduced sentence. Poul Garirayi would have been condemned to a mandatory 10-year maximum jail term and a hefty fine for the elephant tusks valued at P10 233.22 that he was found in possession of.

A man caught with a single elephant tusk during an unexpected run-in with the police in the bush two years ago will learn his fate next Thursday. Although he tried to hide the offending item beneath his jacket during his unplanned encounter with the cops, the big bulge gave Gaosego Emang Seipato away. The 35-year-old met his downfall on 3 May 2019, when he was rumbled by a police patrol who were actually on the lookout for illegal gold miners in the bushes between Matshelagabedi and BDF training centre on the outskirts of Francistown.

A big-hearted boyfriend who managed to get his lover off the hook after the pair were caught with two elephant tusks has been taken to task over the matter and jailed for two years. Zimbabwean native, Brian Ndlovu admitted to being in possession of the ivory, claiming he had been given the tusks by another man with the instruction to sell them. He was busted when police received a tip-off of a man trying to sell tusks at Tonota lands. Swooping into action on 22 January, the cops pounced to find Ndlovu in the presence of his girlfriend and home-girl, Mary Sibanda.