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Lusaka Agreement Task Force (LATF), working in close collaboration with national law enforcement agencies and a partner (Freeland), successfully concluded a coordinated multi-agency operation that resulted in the arrest of suspected wildlife traffickers and the seizure of illegal elephant ivory in Namanga, a border town between Kenya and Tanzania. The operation, conducted on 24th January 2026, forms part of LATF's ongoing efforts to support Member States in dismantling organised transnational wildlife crime networks operating across Africa.

African lions are increasingly targeted for trade in their bones, skin, teeth and claws, according to a newly published study. Without urgent action, the authors warn, poaching may pose an existential threat to Panthera leo, which once numbered in the hundreds of thousands across Africa. Today, about 25,000 are relegated to just 6% of their historic range. They're classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Poaching is especially rising in Mozambique and South Africa, said Peter Lindsey, the study's lead author who directs the Wildlife Conservation Network's Lion Recovery Fund…

In a breakthrough against illegal wildlife trade, a swift undercover operation by Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) working in close collaboration with Lusaka Agreement Task Force (LATF), led to the arrest of three (3) suspects attempting to sell elephants tusks in Kiritiri town, Mbeere South Sub-County, on the evening of 28th May 2025. The arrests were made as part of a wider, ongoing search for criminal ivory traffickers in Kenya and beyond. Acting on actionable intelligence, the suspects were seeking buyers for six pieces of elephant tusks, which they were offering at USD 8500.

Kinshasa, January 26 ICCN , in collaboration with Conserv Congo and the judicial Police of the court of Matete, and has supported a major arrest and seizure operation in central Kinshasa resulting in the confiscation of 1,054 kilograms of pangolin scales and a lion’s skull intended for illegal international trade. Two suspected Congolese traffickers were arrested and placed in detention, while the seized wildlife products have been secured by judicial authorities. The pangolin is currently recognized as the most trafficked mammal in the world.

Two people have been arrested for suspected wildlife trafficking following a multi-agency operation that led to the seizure of elephant tusks valued at about Sh11 million in Namanga. According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI), the suspects, Imani Manasi Msumbwa and Justin Mwalima, both Tanzanian nationals, in the company of a Kenyan suspect, Alton Jilaoneka, were caught off guard at a hotel where they were reportedly negotiating a sale.

The 18-year prison sentence handed to Chinese national Cong Yangzhong in late 2025 cast fresh light and exposed the scale of illicit financial flows fueling wildlife crime in Zimbabwe. Arrested in Harare on July 16, 2025, the 47-year-old was found in possession of three rhino horns and four pieces of raw ivory with a combined street value exceeding US$246 000. While Cong's case stood out because of the quantities of ivory involved, conservationists said such matters are becoming a permanent feature in courts around Zimbabwe.

From vaults holding rhino horn stockpiles to pens of captive-bred lions, and from the elusive pangolin to plundered seas, an expanding illicit wildlife economy is eroding biodiversity, undermining sustainable livelihoods and fuelling transnational criminal networks. Legal loopholes, under-resourced enforcement agencies and the high value of wildlife products have created fertile ground for trafficking syndicates, allowing them to move endangered animals and derivatives across borders with alarming efficiency.

Claude Hakorimana, 32, a former poacher from a community bordering Volcanoes National Park, says he was drawn into illegal hunting at a very young age because it was all he knew growing up. He recalls starting at just 14, watching his parents rely on poaching for food and income. "I grew up seeing my parents hunt for a living. To me, it felt normal," Hakorimana said. "The meat fed the family, and whatever was left was sold for income. Poaching seemed like a reliable way to survive." Over time, his activities expanded in scale and distance.

Illegal wildlife trade is a growing global crisis and the largest direct threat to the future of many of the worl's most threatened species. Recent UN data (2015-2021) shows around 4,000 species impacted, including 3,250 listed under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). With an estimated annual value of up to $20 billion, it is the fourth most lucrative criminal enterprise in the world.

South Africa's newly released professional hunting statistics tell a story that is rarely stated plainly: trophy hunting is not a conservation tool, nor a reluctant compromise at the edges of wildlife management. It is a large, industrialised system of wildlife extraction, normalised through regulation, sanitised by conservation language and sustained by political accommodation.

During the early hours of this morning, members of the Ficksburg Visible Policing Unit carried out crime prevention operational concepts in the Ficksburg policing precinct. Police pulled over a white Toyota Alphard in Einde Street near a filling station at about 02:15. A search was conducted, and members found a parcel wrapped with brown sticky packaging tape inside the boot of the vehicle. The 39-year-old driver was asked to account for the parcel, and he informed the police that he had been requested to transport it from Johannesburg to Maseru.

Africa's lions have always lived on the edge of human worlds. They roam landscapes shaped by farms, roads, villages and borders - admired, feared and contested in equal measure. They face shrinking habitats, declining prey and conflict with people living alongside them. But a new danger is emerging - one that could undo hard-won conservation gains if it is not confronted quickly.

Poaching endangers the populations of endangered species worldwide, and species native to Namibia also suffer from illegal hunting. A key problem that keeps poaching persistent and growing is the continued demand for wildlife products from wildlife crime. And this demand is being fed - among other things by TikTok. TikTok is booming - and the platform is also being misused for the illegal sale of bushmeat. A recent study shows that public TikTok accounts in Africa advertise meat from wild animals, even from highly endangered species such as pangolins.

Police in Okahandja have arrested a 39-year-old Namibian man for the illegal possession and sale of a protected wildlife product, after he was found attempting to sell a leopard skin valued at N$80 000. The arrest followed an intelligence-led covert operation conducted on Saturday, 17 January 2026, at a service station along the main road, where undercover law-enforcement officers posed as buyers. According to the weekend crime report, the suspect was apprehended at the scene and charged with unlawful possession and dealing in controlled wildlife products without a valid permit…

The Minister of Environment, Indileni Daniel, has raised alarm over the growing incidence of illegal sand and gravel mining nationwide, warning that unregulated activities pose serious risks to both the environment and local communities. "The Ministry has noted with serious concern the continued increase in illegal sand and gravel mining activities across various parts of Namibia.

Rather than operating on the fringes, organised wildlife crime networks are embedding themselves within lawful supply chains and financial channels - making wildlife trafficking not just an environmental crime, but a serious financial one. Global experts are calling for financial institutions and regulators to treat wildlife trafficking as a serious financial crime and to "follow the money" to reach the people organising and profiting from these networks.

The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism will undertake regional stakeholder engagements on the draft sand and gravel mining regulations from 26 January to the end of February. Environmental Commissioner Timoteus Mufeti said the Ministry has been working on the regulations to improve coordination and oversight of sand mining. In 2021, the ministry drafted new regulations following national outcry over how sand and gravel extraction activities were conducted. "We are talking about carbon markets and carbon trading.

According to Otjozondjupa Police spokesperson and Community Liaison Officer Senior Inspector Maureen Mbeha, the deceased was allegedly one of two suspects involved in the illegal hunting and killing of an oryx when anti-poaching security guards confronted them. During the pursuit, the man was shot with a 12-gauge shotgun while the second suspect escaped. The deceased sustained gunshot wounds to the chest and abdominal area and allegedly died instantly. His body was transported to the Okahandja State Hospital mortuary for preservation.

Two anti-poaching security guards (23 and 34) were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly shooting and killing a suspected poacher on a private commercial farm near Okahandja. Otjozondjupa head of community policing affairs senior inspector Maureen Mbeha confirmed the incident on Wednesday. She said the deceased has not been identified yet. The shooting occurred around 08h00 on Tuesday at farm Otjisazu. Mbeha said the guards reportedly encountered two suspects involved in the hunting and killing of an oryx.

More than 10,000 Tanzanian student police officers have been trained in how to stop illegal wildlife trade, as part of efforts to protect the country’s unique nature and ecosystems. As a result of this training, which has taken place over five years, police officers report that they are able to detect and investigate wildlife and forest crime more effectively. For example in Morogoro, Tanzanian police worked with wildlife officers in national parks to successfully arrested multiple individuals suspected of illegal wildlife activities.

Forty-six Zambian and 36 Namibian nationals have been arrested on Wednesday in Katima Mulilo's Cowboy location for smuggling timber into the country. Katima Mulilo Police Station Commander Charles Mayumbelo said the consignment of timber was discovered during the police inspection. "Those were items that were smuggled into the country and were supposed to be declared at the Katima Mulilo border, but they failed to do so.

Chinese national Lin Yunhua, the notorious kingpin of a wildlife trafficking syndicate convicted in 2021 for smuggling 2.6 tons of ivory, rhino horns, and pangolin scales worth millions, entered a not-guilty plea Monday to seven corruption-related counts before High Court Judge Redson Kapindu, capping a saga marked by a controversial presidential pardon, international outcry from conservation groups, and allegations of deep-rooted bribery within Malawi's justice and prison systems, writes Winston Mwale.

South Africa's natural heritage is under siege from organised crime, weak regulation and murky legal markets. From vaults holding rhino horn stockpiles to pens of captive-bred lions, and from the elusive pangolin to plundered seas, an expanding illicit wildlife economy is eroding biodiversity, undermining sustainable livelihoods and fuelling transnational criminal networks.

It started with a man from Maua Town in Meru County in possession of an extremely rare item and ended a few weeks ago in the Kajiado Town jail. How he found it is a mystery, but the tiny, palm-sized keratin pyramid came from a rhino. The man thought he could make considerable cash from selling this rhino horn, but he needed a buyer. He started asking around in Malili, a town along the Mombasa Road, where he thought he’d fly under the radar. Instead, our informer network was tipped off. He needed to be caught trying to sell the rhino horn to be arrested, but there were no takers…

A cross-border investigation is underway following a devastating wildlife poisoning incident near Amboseli National Park that has left at least six lions and 34 vultures dead. The animals are believed to have died after feeding on a cow carcass deliberately laced with poison in the Kitenden area along the Kenya–Tanzania border. The incident, which occurred two days ago, has shocked conservationists and authorities, who describe it as one of the most serious poisoning cases ever recorded in the Amboseli ecosystem.

In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's Maiko National Park, a few committed rangers have succeeded in protecting gorillas, elephants and other animals from the surrounding fighting. RFI spoke to the park's assistant director, Alain Mukiranya, about guarding wildlife in the middle of a war zone. The Democratic Republic of Congo's mineral-rich east has been ravaged by three decades of conflict. Since taking up arms again in 2021, the M23 rebel group, backed by Rwanda, has seized swathes of territory, leading to a spiralling humanitarian crisis.

Namibia is endowed with an extraordinary assemblage of wildlife, magnificently adapted to survive and flourish under the country's harsh arid and semi-arid climatic regimes, including a remarkable diversity of amphibian species. Among these are notable frog species such as the Giant African Bullfrog, the Common Platanna, and the Mapacha Grass Frog, among others. The Giant African Bullfrog (Pyxicephalus adspersus), in particular, is predominantly distributed across the central and northern regions of Namibia and has been subjected to intense exploitation for human…

Two Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF) officers and three civilians appeared before the Moshi Resident Magistrate's Court, charged with economic sabotage after allegedly possessing government trophies valued at Sh591.3 million. The criminal case, before Senior Resident Magistrate Ally Mkama, is scheduled for mention at the preliminary stage on January 9, 2025. The first count involves two TPDF officers, Sergeant Andrew Ndaga (Number MT.76601) and Staff Sergeant Chumu Rajabu (Number 76764), along with a civilian identified as Mzee Ally Mzee.

A new report finds thousands of African primates, including chimpanzees and gorillas, are being traded both legally and illegally. Most of the legal trade in great apes is for scientific and zoo purposes, but the report raises some concerns on the legality of recent trade instances for zoos. Chimpanzees topped the list of the most illegally traded African primates, as the exotic pet trade drives the demand for juveniles and infants.

Two suspects, aged 24 and 75, have been arrested in the Tsandi policing area of the Omusati Region after they were allegedly found in possession of protected game without a permit. According to the police, the suspects were found in possession of two live tortoises at the Okapundja cattle post on Saturday. The tortoises were seized by officials from the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) and are together valued at N$10,000. The suspects are due to appear before the Okahao Magistrate's Court on Monday.

Insiders describe why, and how, rangers sworn to protect wildlife collude with poaching syndicates slaughtering rhinos. Tulani Ngwenya investigates On guard: Former ranger trainer Hendrick Sithembiso carves through dry wood with twin tactical knives, demonstrating 'bushcraft' to students during an advanced training programme in Kruger in 2024.

African wildlife will not be protected through Western conservation approaches but through the involvement of local communities, says conservationist Margaret Jacobsohn. She said this last week following the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora's (Cites) recent rejection of Namibia's proposal to be allowed to trade in ivory. "The only way to conserve is by letting all African countries care for our wildlife," said Jacobsohn.

The first authoritative population assessment for African forest elephants estimates there are more than 145,000 individuals. Researchers say new survey techniques relying on sampling DNA from elephant dung provide the most accurate estimate of a species that's difficult to count in its rainforest habitat. Central Africa remains the species' stronghold, home to nearly 96% of forest elephants, with densely forested Gabon hosting 95,000 individuals. Conservationists say the findings can help inform the design of targeted conservation actions and national plans for forest elephants…

The operatives of the Federal Operations Unit, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), in Zone 'D', Bauchi State, have intercepted 718 pieces of donkey skins with a Duty Paid Value (DPV) of over ₦24 million in Mubi, Adamawa State. The Comptroller of the Unit, Abdullahi Ka'ila, disclosed this on Tuesday during a press briefing in Bauchi, stating that the seizure was made on 26 December following credible intelligence and coordinated enforcement operations by officers of the unit.

Black rhinos have increased to 6,788 from the last count of 6,195 in 2022. The number of Indonesia's Javan rhinos has dropped due to poaching. By the end of 2024, the number of white rhinos in Africa dropped to 15,752, down from 17,464 in 2023. Greater one-horned rhinos have been making use of improved habitats and wildlife corridors, and their numbers have increased to 4,075 from 4,014 in 2022.

Great apes are humans' closest relatives in the animal kingdom. As much as 98.8% of their DNA is shared, but while the number of humans living on the planet is increasing fast, other great apes are in decline. Five out of the seven species are now critically endangered. The UN has estimated that about 22,000 great apes disappeared from their natural habitats between 2005 and 2011. Adults are mostly killed, their meat and body parts sold for bushmeat, traditional medicine or, in some cases, traditional ceremonies.

Over the past decade, thousands of African gray parrots have been exported from the Democratic Republic of Congo despite a ban on their international trade. The endangered species, Psittacus erithacus, was listed under Appendix I of CITES, the global wildlife trade convention, in 2016, which would have prohibited its commercial trade, but the DRC government resisted the move. Kinshasa was asked to conduct a comprehensive species' population survey to justify continued trade of the birds, but to date still hasn't carried one out.

When Poison Enters the Land, the Land Falls Silent. In Lesoma, Chobe area of Botswana, the land spoke in grief. Four lions were found dead. Two more followed. Experts believe poison was the cause. But the poison did not stop with the lion. Jackals fed and fell. Vultures descended and never rose again. And slowly, Soon the air was empty, and the earth smelled of sickness and the sky grew quiet. People can be heartless when knowledge is absent. In moments of fear or anger, some choose poison not knowing the animals were never the enemy.

The deep, guttural grunts that once characterized the Shamvura section of the Kavango gradually fall silent and give way to an eerie silence. What was once a thriving sanctuary is now being transformed into a cemetery as a local extinction takes place in real time. In just twelve months, a stable population of 187 hippos has been decimated to just 47. This 75% collapse is not a tragedy of nature, but a calculated massacre, fueled by a deadly combination of toothless Angolan legislation and a brazen commercial meat trade conducted in broad daylight.

Just two weeks after four lions were discovered dead near Lesoma Village in Chobe, two more adult males were found yesterday in a fresh poisoning incident. The reason behind what appears to be the targeted eradication of the pride is still unclear, but there are growing suspicions that the lions may have been poisoned by farmers as a result of escalating human-wildlife conflict.

Kruger National Park, South Africa: When Singapore airport officials investigated a suspicious shipment of furniture fittings last month, a pungent smell led them to something far more sinister. Inside the cargo from South Africa were 20 rhino horns weighing 35.7kg and worth around S$1.13 million (US$870,000), along with 150kg of other animal parts including bones, teeth and claws.

As anti-poaching techniques have improved over the years, poachers have increasingly used technology to evade detection by patrols and park rangers. Now, conservationists are rising to the challenge of the resulting technological arms race with innovations of their own. Over the past few years, researchers and conservationists have worked to develop new technology to detect and track poaching, including mobile apps, sensors, and AI.

South Africa (18 December 2025) - Ninety-eight Armadillo Girdled Lizards have been released back into the wild after being rescued from the illegal pet trade. They were part of a group of more than 100 lizards rescued from the exotic pet trade in the Northern Cape earlier this year. The Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) says the species is now considered one of the most heavily trafficked reptiles in southern Africa, largely because of illegal wildlife trade. They’re sought after because they're such fascinating creatures.

Derick Brockerhoff, a convicted serial poacher and livestock thief who has more than 11 cases pending against him in various courts across Namibia, was again apprehended by the Namibian police.

About two weeks ago, a 68-year-old farmer in the Otjimbingwe area in the Erongo region found the remains of five blue wildebeest on his land, valued at about N$50 000. His fence had been cut and tyre tracks showed where a vehicle drove in and out. The animals were shot, butchered and their parts removed, leaving only heads, legs and some meat behind. "Blue wildebeest are protected, and I gave no one permission to cut my fence or hunt on my farm. I want a police investigation and prosecution," he told the police. But farmers in the area say they expect little action.

INTERPOL recently executed the largest-ever edition of its annual series of coordinated of raids to dismantle criminal shipments and networks of trafficked and poached wildlife. Called Operation Thunder, some 30,000 live animals were seized in 4,620 raids across 134 countries, 30% more than last year. INTERPOL identified 1,100 suspects and issued 69 notices of criminal activity to participating nations’ police forces. Operation Thunder took place between September 15th and October 15th.

At 10am on Wednesday, 10 December, an incinerator somewhere in Gauteng came alive with a roar, superheated flames instantly melting the plastic bags around the bones of 42 lions. It was dramatic, symbolic and garishly real. Ribs, leg bones and snarling skulls blackened in the intense heat as the doors of the hellish cauldron slid shut, having given observers a brief glimpse of the blaze that would reduce nearly half a tonne of lion remains to ash. Symbolic, because an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 lions still live behind fences on breeding farms across South Africa.

The Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) has been ordered to pay Shs26 million to a former employee who was unfairly dismissed after exposing a passenger smuggling 12 rhino horns through Entebbe International Airport. The Industrial Division of the High Court ruled that Arnold Olweny Bonaventure was unlawfully terminated from UCAA and therefore deserved compensation in the form of general damages equivalent to one year's salary.

According to Will Travers, cofounder and executive president of Born Free, a wildlife charity, Botswana's expanded elephant trophy hunting quota "raises deep biological concerns", however. "Biological, because, as the name suggests, trophy hunters target individual animals they regard as 'trophies', in the case of elephants, those with the largest tusks, the mature males," he told Al Jazeera in an emailed statement.