This archive of published media articles about wildlife crime in Namibia aims to:
Public access to information is a vital component of ensuring community engagement in prevalent issues. Wildlife crime is one of the pressing environmental issues of our time.
Wildlife crime investigations are generally covert operations requiring utmost confidentiality to succeed. Investigations and prosecutions in complex cases may take months or even years to complete. For this reason, the information that can be released to the public without compromising cases is often limited. Nonetheless, the Namibian government strives to share as much information as possible with the public.
The Namibian media has welcomed this approach and regularly publishes statistics and feature articles on wildlife crime. These are entered into the database at regular intervals, creating a comprehensive archive of wildlife crime reporting in Namibia.
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South Africa's pervasive 'rhino war' rhetoric distracts us from addressing the root causes of poaching. We urgently need alternative conservation philosophies, practices and policies to tackle wildlife crime. In January 2025, conservationists were honoured to have you, Mr Dion George, Minister of the Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, at a two-week conservation management course in the Greater Kruger area.
On Nov. 11, 2024, Alfi Simatupang, a police officer in Asahan district on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, was arrested along with two soldiers and a civilian for allegedly attempting to traffic nearly 1.2 metric tons of pangolin scales. Since that bust, the civilian, Amir Simatupang, has gone on trial; the soldiers, Muhammad Yusuf Harahap and Rahmadani Syahputra, are undergoing a court-martial; while Alfi, the alleged mastermind of the trafficking plot, has not only avoided prosecution, but even been promoted.
An endangered pangolin has been taken hostage by a group of rebels in the the Democratic Republic of Congo who sent a ransom request to conservationists for the animal’s release. It sparks fears that the kidnap could lead to a trend in using wildlife as bargaining power, the activists negotiating with the kidnappers are attempting to rescue the pangolin without payment. "This is something new and alarming," Adams Cassinga, founder of Conserv Congo, said after "proof of life" photographs of the prized animal were sent to community conservationists.