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The Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal, says there is a need for capacity building in the judiciary for effective prosecution of wildlife crimes. The minister noted that Nigerian wildlife was being threatened by poachers, with some wild animals, including elephants, facing extinction threats. Lawal said this when he appeared as a guest on an episode of Unfiltered: The Big Interview, monitored by our correspondent. He said, "The forest is now becoming homes for criminals, insurgents and poachers who kill endangered animals like elephants.

Three Botswana citizens who after they were found guilty, admitted in an appeal application hearing on Wednesday, 24 April, in the High Court in Kimberley that they illegally crossed the border with illegal ammunition to illegally hunt rhinos on a Northern Cape farm. An accomplice of theirs died in a shootout with the farm workers and game rangers. In March, acting judge Cordelia Kgopa found they must have foreseen that someone would die during their raid and found them guilty of the murder of K.J. Matshetse, their accomplice. He died in the crossfire.

Pangolins (Order: Pholidota) are considered a very rare and threatened group of mammal taxa, and are widely recognized as the most trafficked mammals globally. In recent years, Africa has become an increasingly important source to supply demand, particularly from Asian markets. However, the extent and scale of the trade within South Africa remains poorly documented. Our study aimed to investigate the extent of the illicit trade in the Temminck’s pangolin (Smutsia temminckii) in South Africa between 2016 and 2024.