Search results

A 50-year-old man was arrested at the Liselo checkpoint near Katima Mulilo after he was found in possession of protected game products, including lion teeth, bones and oils extracted from lion fat. The discovery was made on Monday at midday during a routine vehicle search conducted by law enforcement officers with the assistance of a K-9 sniffer dog. The officers discovered illegal wildlife products hidden in the traveller's bag. The suspect, who has yet to appear in court, failed to produce a valid permit authorising possession or transport of the protected game items.

Eighty-four vultures have been rescued by a joint team of SANParks rangers and Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) officials from a devastating poisoning in the Kruger National Park. The incident in the Mahlangeni Section of the Park was detected by the EWT's pioneering wildlife poisoning surveillance and detection system, which triggered an alert at 06:05 on 6 May 2025, flagging suspicious activity in a remote section of the park. Within hours, a joint SANParks and EWT team mobilised, arriving on site by 08:20.

Some of the rhinos at Addo Elephant National Park are now collared with Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to secure their safety. This is a first-of-its-kind intervention at the Park. Smart algorithms continuously monitor the rhino's behaviour and in the event of an incident, an alert is generated that pinpoints the rhino's location via GPS. This enables the effective, real-time investigation of possible poaching incidents. Behaviours that can be tracked include fighting, mating, giving birth and death.

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.

In a landmark display of cross-border cooperation, |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park Field Rangers from South Africa joined forces with their Namibian counterparts to conduct regular joint river patrol along the Orange River. This milestone collaboration marks a significant achievement following a three-year interruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The joint patrol, integral to the management of the |Ai-|Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park (ARTP), aimed to address the rampant illegal gillnet activities that have been decimating fish populations in the area.

The South African National Parks (SANParks) Environment Crime Investigation (ECI) Unit received tip-offs from the public about potential poaching activities at Smitswinkel Bay, Cape Town. A prompt response by the ECI, its Canine Unit and the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP) Marine Unit Rangers led to the apprehension of two suspected poachers who were found with a total of 291 units of abalone. The apprehended suspects were transported to the South African Police Services.

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.

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.

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.

Two more poachers, caught on South African soil, were sentenced today after they killed an elephant in November 2018 in the Skukuza National Park.

Tragically another white rhino cow and her calf were killed in South Africa over the weekend for their horns, but fortunately two rhino poaching suspects have been caught thanks to an incredible amount of team work.

South African National Parks (SANParks) announced the arrest of three staff members on 20 October 2020; in an extended Intel driven operation by SANParks, SAPS Crime Intelligence Unit, Sabi Sands and Skukuza SAPS Stock Theft Unit outside Kruger Gate. Two of the officials were employed as Security Guards and one was attached to Technical Services at one of the rest camps. The three were likely to appear in court on Thursday, 22 October 2020 and will thereafter be subjected to internal employee disciplinary procedures.