Search results

Justice Yellim Bogoro of the Federal High Court has convicted and sentenced two animal poachers, Bunmi Dagunduro and Olusegun Oniyide, to 18 months in prison for unlawfully possessing three live pangolins, an endangered species. Justice Bogoro jailed the convict after they pleaded guilty to a three-count charge of conspiracy, possession and trade of endangered wildlife.

At least 110 countries are now involved in illegal trade in wildlife - more than doubling from 49 in 2000. Trade connections jumped by more than 400%, according to a recent analysis of global wildlife seizure data. Asia, rather than Europe, is now the centre of illegal trade for most species, the study found, sparked by extensive trading, business and diplomatic connections with Africa - the source for many wildlife products.

South Africa won world acclaim in the 1960s for rescuing the white rhino from extinction. Known as Operation Rhino, the project involved multiplying their numbers gradually and translocating them to former wild living spaces across Africa. But our reputation as a global leader in rhino conservation began to unravel in 2008 when criminal syndicates launched an unprecedented horn-poaching spree in this country. Now, after 18 years of relentless killing, the initial sense of shock seems to have worn off.

The Skukuza Regional Court has convicted and sentenced Bernet Sibuyi (54) and Evans Mashele (59) to eight years' direct imprisonment each for poaching related offences committed in 2021. According to Mpumalanga National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Monica Nyuswa, the two men were convicted on two counts, namely possession of a firearm and conspiracy to commit an offence.

The ants are flying in Kenya at the moment. During this rainy season, swarms can be seen leaving the thousands of anthills in and around Gilgil, a quiet agricultural town in Kenya's Rift Valley that has emerged as the centre of a booming illegal trade. The mating ritual sees winged males leave the nest to impregnate queens, who also take flight at this time.

On March 9, wildlife authorities in Zambia arrested 10 people in possession of 550 kilograms (1,212 pounds) of ivory, according to the U.K.-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), which provided intelligence that led to the arrests. EIA said the case highlights the impact that international cooperation can have in the fight against the illegal trade of wildlife. In a Mar.

What began as an audacious racket to launder rhino horns has unravelled into the biggest wildlife trafficking bust in years, dragging the Department of Home Affairs into the spotlight and exposing Vietnam's shadowy passport and visa processes. Investigations and reports by the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC and other conservation bodies have revealed disturbing evidence of organised crime in South Africa, including the frequent involvement of transnational Vietnamese syndicates in wildlife trafficking.

Enforcement alone is not stopping the bushmeat trade, despite increased patrols, arrests, and seizures. The trade persists because it is driven by strong economic incentives that far outweigh the risks. Corruption, weak penalties, and systemic governance failures undermine enforcement effectiveness. Conservation funding and research are heavily skewed toward short-term, visible enforcement actions. Lasting impact requires combined solutions, especially alternative livelihoods, demand reduction, and supply chain control.

The recent joint operation conducted by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism, alongside the Namibian Police and Namibian Defense Force, led to the apprehension of Zambian individuals engaged in cross-border poaching activities. The operation aimed at a syndicate that utilized the Zambezi region as a pathway for trafficking wildlife products from Botswana. The operation resulted in the seizure of 24 elephant tusks, 12 bundles of elephant tails, two pots, two knives for butchering, one air mattress, and a silver Nissan Latino car.

For the first time in more than four decades, rhinos have returned to Uganda's Kidepo Valley National Park, where poachers once wiped them out for their horns and meat. On Tuesday, two southern white rhinos became the first of eight animals intended to re-establish a population in the park. The last rhino there was killed in 1983, the Uganda Wildlife Authority, which is responsible for the relocation, said.

A new survey has revealed a concerning decline in lion numbers in the Kruger National Park, with poaching identified as a major contributing factor. Conducted by the Endangered Wildlife Trust in partnership with South African National Parks, the study highlights a significant drop in populations in parts of the northern region, raising alarms about the future of the iconic Panthera leo.

Not a single rhino was poached in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in January (compared with about 30 a month just three years ago). But the poaching assault in KwaZulu-Natal's most famous rhino reserve is far from over. Bleached by years of sun and rain, the skulls of hundreds of rhinos have been piling up steadily in the "boneyards" of Africa’s oldest game reserve. Most skulls have an aluminium identity tag fixed to them with a ring of steel wire passing through empty eye sockets.

An inspection team from the Quiçama National Park proceeded, in the early hours of March 13, 2026, to the arrest of an individual involved in poaching practices within the conservation area. The arrest took place in the Capelongo area, located within the park, during a surveillance operation conducted by inspectors of the institution. The suspect was caught red-handed after illegally slaughtering six deer, and a live deer cub was also found, as well as seven bambis, a seixa and a rabbit.

A Chinese national has been arrested in Kenya's main airport accused of attempting to smuggle more than 2,000 queen garden ants out of the country. Zhang Kequn was intercepted during a security check at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in the capital Nairobi after authorities discovered a large consignment of live ants in his luggage bound for China. He has yet to respond to the accusation but investigators said in court that he was linked to an ant-trafficking network that was broken up in Kenya last year.

Nairobi - The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has secured a nine-year prison sentence against Peter Omwangala Atepe, convicted of illegally exporting wildlife products and forging official wildlife documents. Atepe was sentenced at the Kibera Law Courts by Principal Magistrate Margaret Murage, who found him guilty of multiple offences under the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act. The court handed him a combined nine-year custodial sentence for charges related to illegal wildlife exports and document forgery.

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife has achieved a historic milestone with zero rhino poaching incidents recorded in KwaZulu-Natal provincial parks in January 2026. KZN Economic Development, Tourism, and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) MEC Musa Zondi said this demonstrated that the province is "not merely participating in conservation success, but living in it," marks a decade-best. The trend is in line with recent poaching stats. According to stats released in February by Environment Minister Willie Aucamp, there was 97 rhinos poached in KZN in 2025, a decline from 232 killed in 2024.

The increased targeted poaching of lions for the illegal trade in their body parts poses an undeniable threat to the species in Africa. Despite their iconic status, lions are now threatened across much of the continent and exist in only 6% of their historical range, with many populations in decline. A new study, co-led by the Endangered Wildlife Trust's Dr Samantha Nicholson, highlights the deliberate poaching of lions to satisfy the illegal trade in body parts.

Atlantic Council brief warns $2B in West African timber has bankrolled separatists, al-Qaeda affiliates, and ISIS-linked militants - as Beijing's green guidelines go unenforced. Global demand for high-end furniture and decorative veneers, manufactured in enormous Chinese production mills, has driven West African rosewood to become the world's most trafficked illegal wildlife commodity - surpassing ivory, rhinoceros horn, and big-game cats combined in both value and volume.

Rangers on patrol in the Kingfisherspruit Section of the Kruger National Park today came into contact, with three poachers. One of the poachers was armed and a confrontation ensued, wounding one of the poachers whilst the other two managed to flee. A doctor treated the wounded poacher at the scene before he was transported to a local hospital. The South African Police Service together with Local Criminal Record Centre processed the crime scene and a heavy calibre rifle was recovered as well at the scene. The search for the remaining suspects continues.

A South African facing 1,600 criminal charges at home has been ordered out of a lucrative Botswana hunting concession by the community. He doesn't want to go anywhere. Dawie Groenewald - convicted in the US in 2010 for smuggling a leopard skin into the country, and facing 1,600 charges in South Africa related to rhino poaching, trafficking, racketeering and money-laundering - has been ordered to leave a lucrative trophy-hunting concession in Botswana's Okavango Delta by the community whose ancestral land it is.

A cabinet directive to increase national quotas for harvesting fur seals in Namibia has been the proverbial match in the powder keg between those who support it and those who see it as an unnecessary and brutal massacre. Scientists, environmentalists, and animal rights groups point to the unsustainability and cruelty of the method of harvesting, as well as its social and ecological impact on seal populations and the marine ecosystem as a whole. The Namibian government, for its part, defends the practice by advocating for the control of seal populations in the face of declining…

Illegal timber exports are among the biggest environmental crimes. In Namibia, a new analysis centre is to help to scientifically determine wood species and origin. In this way, authorities want to prevent protected stocks from disappearing via international trade routes. Namibia's rosewood stocks in the northeast of the country have been the target of international smuggling networks for years.

Three individuals were arrested over the weekend in connection with the alleged illegal hunting of an elephant at Omugulugombashe village in the Tsandi constituency of the Omusati region. According to regional police commander commissioner Ismael Basson, the elephant which later killed a 46-year-old woman was shot last Wednesday at around 22h00 in a mahangu field at the village. "It is alleged that the suspects hunted a specially protected animal, an elephant, in contravention of the Nature Conservation Ordinance," Basson says.

On snare-sweep patrols, the Phalaborwa Natural Heritage Foundation team sometimes comes across poachers' camps. Eugene Troskie has found many of these camps over the years. A collared female hyaena was hanging around in a certain area for an inordinate length of time, which generally indicates an animal killed in a snare. Eugene and his team picked this up on their tracking devices and decided to go in and see what the situation was. They found a huge poachers' camp that had been in operation for a long time. The evidence of the poachers' work was strewn across the surrounding…

A recent publication by Lindsey et al. reviewed evidence for lion population changes, targeted illegal killing and body parts trafficking incidents in parts of Africa. Although the article admits that "no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study", it nevertheless concludes that "Lions (Panthera leo) in Africa are targeted for the illegal wildlife trade, driven by demand in African and Asian markets, for their body parts. This threat is distinct from traditional drivers of lion decline.

The United States government has handed over equipment for a wood identification and screening centre to support Namibia's fight against illegal timber trafficking. The equipment was transferred on Thursday to Namibia's minister of home affairs, immigration, safety and security, Lucia Iipumbu, Namibian Police inspector general Joseph Shikongo and the Namibian Police Forensic Science Institute.

Prosecutors in Zimbabwe used lion DNA forensics for the first time to successfully convict two people for poaching and trafficking a male lion near Hwange National Park. Investigators analyzed DNA from confiscated lion parts and were able to match it to a radio-collared lion in their database that was killed in 2024. Proving that the seized parts came from a poached wild lion provided the evidence that sent the two poachers to prison for two years.

The U.S. Ambassador to Namibia, John Giordano, recently hosted a high-level counter wildlife trafficking roundtable at the United States Embassy in Windhoek, to strengthen cooperation against transnational environmental crime. The meeting brought together local conservation leaders and U.S. government officials. Participants discussed progress in arrests and convictions, regional coordination efforts, investigative capacity-building, and the intersection between wildlife trafficking and other transnational crimes, including narcotics and human trafficking.

United States (US) ambassador to Namibia John Giodarno hosted a discussion to combat wildlife trafficking in Windhoek on 24 February. The meeting brought together Namibian conservation leaders and US government officials to discuss progress in arrests and convictions, regional coordination efforts and investigative capacity building when it comes to wildlife crimes. "As a former United States attorney, I have seen first-hand how criminal networks try to exploit gaps in enforcement and governance.

Free State, South Africa (03 March 2026) - Behind every online advert for a wild tortoise is a creature stolen from its natural habitat - ripped from the very environment it depends on to survive. This growing wildlife injustice is one that the Wildlife Crime Information Network tirelessly fights to curb. Every day, the team receives reports of tortoises and other wildlife illegally removed from the wild to be kept as pets. These animals are often deprived of water, food, and freedom, or are exploited for food and traditional medicine (muti).

On paper, Zimbabwe is winning the fight against poaching. In places such as Hwange National Park, the numbers tell a hopeful story. Elephant poaching has fallen sharply. In the past five years, recorded cases dropped from roughly 100 elephants killed annually in and around Hwange to about 20 animals poached outside the park in 2025, with none killed inside the park for two consecutive years. These are not small gains.

The Mpumalanga government is stepping up its fight against rhino poaching with stronger measures and extra support, after the province saw a sharp rise in the number of rhinos killed last year. This new push comes as conservationists and local communities grow more worried about the future of these iconic animals. The increase in poaching has hit hard, especially in areas close to Kruger National Park, and officials say they are now working harder than ever to protect the province’s rhinos and the tourism jobs that depend on them.

Spanish police have investigated a woman found with a suitcase filled with 15 pangolin carcasses flying into Madrid last week. Civil Guard officers made the shocking discovery during customs checks on passengers arriving from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia last Monday. An X-ray scan of the suitcase at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport flagged abnormalities, found to be tiny pangolin bodies wrapped in plastic and weighing a total of 40kg.

Maputo - Gorongosa National Park (PNG), in the central Mozambican province of Sofala, has recovered 160 pangolins from trafficking routes over the last eight years. The pangolin (sometimes known as the scaly anteater) is one of the species most under threat from poaching in Mozambique. Pangolins have the unique characteristic of being the only terrestrial mammals entirely covered in scales, and their existence is becoming increasingly rare.

Just as many expected a retreat from wildlife reform, Mpumalanga has taken the opposite step - moving to shut down captive lion breeding and jolting an industry that believed the political winds were turning in its favour. In a move that has surprised many observers of South Africa's wildlife politics, the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) has announced that it is phasing out captive lion facilities in the province - importantly aligning itself squarely with national plans that have been rolling forward in fits and starts since 2018.

A 60-year-old Chinese man was sentenced to 24 months in prison today for illegally importing 41 pieces of rhino horn valued at about HK$3 million, hidden in his luggage at Hong Kong International Airport. The man arrived from Dhaka, Bangladesh, on June 29 last year. Customs officers discovered the suspected rhino horns concealed in his baggage during inspection. Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) staff confirmed the black-painted, plastic-wrapped items were genuine rhino horn fragments totaling 7.7 kilograms.

The tourism-funded Okamutenge project supports anti-poaching patrols across five communal conservancies in the Kunene. After good rains ended a prolonged drought, wildlife populations are rebounding, increasing both hope and poaching risk. A loaned Land Cruiser and basic equipment enabled game guards to resume regular patrols across 13,000km² of remote terrain. Patrols unite multiple conservancies and Namibia's Ministry of Environment, reinforcing coordinated community conservation.

The hippo population along the Kavango River near Shamvura Camp has reportedly collapsed from 187 animals to just 22 in two years, raising alarm over what lodge owner and conservationist Mark Paxton describes as a relentless surge in poaching. Paxton, who has conducted formal wildlife counts along the river for decades, submits his results to Wetlands International, a global non-profit organisation dedicated to the conservation and restoration of wetlands. His records show a sharp decline of the local hippo population. "In one year we dropped from 187 to 47.

A controversial Vietnamese national was arrested trying to flee South Africa while on wildlife trafficking charges. Huy Bao Tran is linked to the 'staged' theft of 98 rhino horns and a vast global syndicate.

Tulani Ngwenya investigates how US dollars and hi-tech security have turned South Africa's game parks into a fortress frontier on the operations room monitors, a Black Mamba ranger works with a software platform that tracks and manages activity across the reserves in real time.

A joint operation by the Special Wildlife Crime Unit and the Uganda Police Force has led to the arrest of a suspected ivory trafficker and the recovery of 154 kilograms of raw elephant ivory in Northern Uganda. The suspect, Francis Opiro, was apprehended on February 22, 2026, in Nwoya District while in possession of ten pieces of raw elephant tusks. Authorities confirmed that he will be arraigned before the Standards, Utilities and Wildlife Court to face charges of unlawful possession of protected wildlife specimens, contrary to the Uganda Wildlife Act Cap 315.

Gondwana Collection Namibia and ERP Conservation Foundation recently completed an intensive anti-poaching training programme to bolster security ahead of the new Black Rhino Sanctuary’s opening. The specialised training brought together a group of in-house rangers and trainees, equipping them with advanced skills required to protect one of Africa's most endangered species.

A new global report reveals that over half a million pangolins were seized between 2016 and 2024, highlighting urgent conservation needs despite intensified Namibian protection. The report, 'Conservation Status, Trade and Enforcement Efforts for Pangolins', released at the end of last year, provides the most up-to-date review of pangolin conservation status and legal and illegal trade.

The Ministry of Tourism has warned members of the public against engaging in the illegal trade of pangolins and their products following a continued rise in related arrests. In a press statement issued to the media by Ministry of Tourism Principle Public Relations Officer Nelly Banda, through the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW), revealed that 154 pangolin-related arrests were recorded between January 2024 and December 2025.

Vulture safe zones have multiplied across Southern Africa to address the numerous threats facing these scavengers. The vulture safe zone concept originated in Asia as a response to the drastic decline in the region's vulture populations due to diclofenac poisoning. Opinions are mixed on their effectiveness to address the multitude of threats facing species in Africa.

The traffickers was arrested at the border town of Kipushi, between DRC and Zambia and 30kg of elephant ivory seized. This weight of ivory has been put out of the black market of wildlife thanks to the collaboration between ICCN (Institut National pour la conservation de la nature), supported by technically and financially by Conserv Congo, a local Non profit , part of the civil society, the magistrate court of Kipushi and the judicial police.

The EMS Foundation today releases its latest investigative report, Rhinos on a Knife Edge (No.3 in the Where Have All the Rhinos Gone? series), warning that South Africa's remaining rhino population is caught in a dangerous convergence of policy uncertainty, organised crime, corruption, and renewed pressure to legalise international rhino horn trade. The report reveals that approximately 2,300–2,500 rhinos remain in South Africa's state-owned national parks, with just 2,000 rhinos left in the Kruger National Park - once considered the stronghold of the species.

The Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, Ogun 1 Area Command, Idiroko, says it intercepted four live Pangolins, an endangered species, along the Yemoamota-Abule-Igboora axis of the state. The Deputy Superintendent of NCS, Chado Zakari, who doubles as the Command’s spokesperson, disclosed this in a statement made available to newsmen on Saturday in Ota. Zakari explained that the seizure underscored the Service’s unwavering commitment to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, CITES.

South Africa has reported a significant victory against rhino poaching in 2025, with national figures reflecting a 16% decline. Leading the charge is KwaZulu-Natal, where poaching losses at Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP) dwindled by 68%. Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (Ezemvelo) welcomed the encouraging 2025 national rhino poaching statistics, crediting Minister Willie Aucamp’s statement on anti-poaching progress. Rhino losses in the HiP notably dropped by 68% (from 198 in 2024 to 63 in 2025), reflecting a province-wide decrease from 232 to 97 total losses.