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The Kruger National Park has a major rhino-poaching crisis, but that's just one of many mounting problems - and it's extremely worrying.

Singapore - An eight-week INTERPOL operation against wildlife crime and trafficking resulted in arrests and seizures across Asia and Africa. Codenamed Golden Strike, the operation - which ended late last year - targeted the criminals and networks smuggling wildlife protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) from Africa to Asia.

Despite back-breaking work from a dedicated and passionate SANParks team, Kruger National Park rhino populations have continued to plummet - as per the latest population count from 2020. Recently published research estimates that there are about 2,607 white rhinos remaining in the Kruger National Park, while black rhinos are estimated to number just 202. This represents a population decline of 75% for white rhinos since 2011 (from 10,621) and 51% for black rhino since 2013 (from 415).

A court in Mozambique has sentenced the leader of a poaching gang to 30 years in prison on Wednesday. The man was convicted of the crimes of poaching, illegal possession of weapons and association to commit offences, the ministry said in a statement, noting that he had also been sentenced to pay a fine of 1 percent of minimum wage for 28 years, news website Club of Mozambique wrote. The accused was arrested on May 3, 2021, "when he was returning from an attempt to hunt rhinoceros for the second time illegally", authorities said.

Rhino poaching in South Africa is at a critical level despite a "deafening" silence from official government communications and mainstream media, one of southern Africa’s most dedicated and respected wildlife vets Dr Dave Cooper maintains. Referring to the violent killing of rhino as "murders" rather than the mild, mundane "poaching", he issued a massive cry for action before it's too late, begging the world to wake up, see and stop what is happening in South Africa, according to Rhino Review. His plea comes days after witnessing possibly the "worst…

The suspected poacher who was severely injured by a rhino last week in the Etosha National Park succumbed to his injuries on Saturday.

Fewer cases of poaching have been recorded across the country so far this year, announced environment minister Pohamba Shifeta in Windhoek yesterday. Shifeta said this at a media conference at which he announced that 27 rhinos have been paoched so far this year, compared to 60 in all of 2016 and 95 in 2015. Shifeta also said 20 elephants have been poached this year, compared to 101 in 2016 and 49 in 2015.

This year a total of 27 rhinos and 20 elephants have been poached, indicating a significant decline in poaching when compared to previous years. Releasing the latest statistics of recorded poaching incidents of rhino and elephants for this year, the environment and tourism minister, Pohamba Shifeta, said rhino poaching had gone done down by about 50% from 2016. In 2016, a total of 60 rhino were poached while 95 rhino were poached in 2015 and 56 rhino in 2014.

A suspected poacher was severely injured by a rhino in the Etosha National Park on Saturday evening. Warrant officer Simson Shilongo of the police in Kunene told The Namibian yesterday that Luteni Muharukua (age unknown) and other alleged poachers had entered the national park illegally to poach rhinos.

In the Namibian newspaper of 13 September 2017, under the heading 'N$25m per person killed by wildlife', a participant in one of the consultative meetings held in the Zambezi region by the National Council standing committee on habitat criticised the Ministry of Environment and Tourism for placing more value on an animal's life than on a human's life.

Smuggling routes have become more convoluted as syndicates attempt to evade detection, a new report says. Namibia has been identified as a significant link in the international rhino-horn smuggling network. This follows a surge in rhino poaching in Namibia since 2013. Previously the country was not identified in this trafficking route. This is according to a rapid assessment of smuggling routes and techniques used in the illicit trade in African rhino horn.