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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.

Former diplomat Pius Dunaiski says the decision by the Labour party in the United Kingdom (UK) to push for an anti-trophy hunting bill will affect Namibia's tourism industry. He says the new labour government will need to enhance ties with Namibia. Trophy hunting is a major foreign currency earner in Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Members of anti-poaching units are sometimes involved in poaching or trafficking themselves, a latest report shows. This is according to a protection and law-enforcement report released by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism last week. Moreover, the report says 83 people have been arrested in connection with poaching and conspiring to poach rhinos and committing other wildlife crimes last year. It states that 39 people were arrested after pre-emptive investigations in 2023, while follow-up investigations related to rhino poaching have led to 44 arrests.

Four suspected rhino poachers died in two separate incidents in South Africa's internationally renowned Kruger National Park this month (June). The park on South Africa's eastern boundary is bordered by Mozambique and Zimbabwe and for the first time was last year overtaken by KwaZulu-Natal as the apparent venue of choice for armed poachers seeking rhino horn.

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.

SADC countries have individually decided not to get involved in the non-commercial international trade in rhino horn. This questionable decision has happened despite approval for such trade by the UN international wild trade-regulating agency, CITES, and despite the help, it would give to wildlife conservation, the jobs it would create, and the socio-economic benefits it would bring to Southern Africa. Why? The reluctance to trade rhino horn in any way possible seems strange in the face of the economic devastation, particularly to rural areas, caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

SADC countries have individually decided not to get involved in the non-commercial international trade in rhino horn. This questionable decision has happened despite approval for such trade by the UN international wild trade-regulating agency, CITES, and despite the help it would give to wildlife conservation, the jobs it would create, and the socio-economic benefits it would bring to Southern Africa.