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In 2019, Malawi dismantled the Chinese-led Lin-Zhang wildlife trafficking syndicate, a major win in its fight against the illegal wildlife trade, thanks in part to funding from the U.S. government. The Trump administration’s recent slashing of international development funds, however, threatens these gains, leaving frontline enforcers and conservation programs without critical support. NGOs across Africa and Southeast Asia, running initiatives from sniffer rat programs to antipoaching patrols, tell Mongabay they're struggling to fill the funding gap.

Surveying elephants is hard, risky work. Dedicated biologists have been doing this challenging task across Africa for decades. Systematic surveying started in the late 1960s but has been sporadic, as access to remote areas takes logistical planning, funding and well-trained teams. Surveys can easily be derailed by civil unrest or lack of available survey teams. Consequently, the information on the numbers of elephants across Africa is spotty. Even for a single population, survey effort and coverage can change over the years.

A new investigation by wildlife trade monitoring group TRAFFIC has uncovered an "alarming" slew of online adverts offering illegal wildlife products for sale in Vietnam, despite pledges from multiple platforms to clamp down on such content. The report, based on monitoring of social media groups and e-commerce platforms in Vietnam between June 2021 and July 2023, focuses on items made from body parts of elephants, rhinos, pangolins, tigers, tortoises and freshwater turtles.

Community-led antitrafficking networks are proving pivotal in helping authorities intercept poachers targeting critically endangered and endemic tortoises in southern Madagascar’s fast-disappearing spiny forests. Illegal hunting, both for their meat and to supply the pet trade, has decimated the species’ population in recent decades. Indigenous people living in the range of the imperiled species are motivated to protect them due to long-standing traditional beliefs that value and respect the tortoises.

The recent seizure in Thailand of 48 lemurs and more than 1,200 critically endangered tortoises endemic to Madagascar underscores the global scale of wildlife trafficking networks that use Thailand as a transshipment hub. The operation was aided by intelligence from a joint transnational investigation between Thai law enforcement agencies and international antitrafficking organizations working to dismantle global wildlife trafficking networks spanning Asia, Africa and South America.

Police and wildlife authorities in Malawi have arrested two men suspected of having killed an elephant in Kasungu National Park. Residents of villages just outside the park's boundaries informed police about two men selling elephant meat, who were subsequently found in possession of 16.6 kg (36.6 lbs) of ivory.

Environment minister Pohamba Shifeta yesterday said the Chinese government's ban on trade in ivory will only make the black market for rhino horns and elephant tusks more lucrative.

Another two Chinese nationals caught in possession of rhino horns last Thursday will appear in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court today.

Environment and tourism minister Pohamba Shifeta is concerned about the increasing poaching and illegal trafficking of wildlife products. He told visiting Interpol secretary general Jurgen Stock in Windhoek on Tuesday that Namibia could use more help and support from the international community to end the poaching and trafficking of wildlife products.

Depity fisheries minister Chief Samuel Ankama says the only way to combat poaching is by apprehending the end-users, who keep the market alive.

Over 72 elephants were poached in the Caprivi Region last year alone while six cases have been reported so far this year.