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Three former employees of Kruger National Park have been convicted of rhino poaching and conspiracy, exposing the critical role insiders can play in enabling wildlife crime. The case underscores both the scale of organised poaching networks and the profound breach of trust when those tasked with protecting wildlife become complicit.

Three former employees of Kruger National Park have been convicted of rhino poaching and conspiracy, exposing the critical role insiders can play in enabling wildlife crime. The case underscores both the scale of organised poaching networks and the profound breach of trust when those tasked with protecting wildlife become complicit.

Accused rhino poacher and former regional ranger Rodney Landela - once heralded as the "Crown Prince of the Kruger" - insists he was framed. The former Kruger regional ranger, tipped for a top post at the national park before his arrest, has testified that a wildlife observation mission went disastrously wrong in the Kingfisherspruit section of the Kruger National Park on 27 July 2016. Landela, alongside former state veterinary technician Kenneth Muchocho are accused of killing a white rhino early that morning.

Despite being 20 times smaller and having much lower rainfall, Richtersveld has more plant species than the country's famous Kruger national park. It is, says Van Wyk, "the most important succulent laboratory in the world". But it is this variety of rare succulents that draws the poachers. Many Richtersveld species are so specialised that they grow only in one valley or on one mountain slope. In extreme cases an entire species can be confined to an area smaller than a football pitch, so a poacher could render a species extinct in a morning.

There are fewer than 5,630 black rhinos left in the wild, but the last remaining free-ranging population live in the Kunene and Erongo regions of North West Namibia. These special desert-adapted rhinos are protected by our partner Save the Rhino Trust (SRT). The past year has been especially difficult for SRT's team. They have not only had to cope with the ever-present threat of poaching and drought but also had to deal with the additional pressures brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

To raise awareness for rhino conservation, Namibian-born international model Behati Prinsloo has joined forces with Save The Rhino Trust Namibia (SRT). As part of her alliance with the organisation, she is launching a global campaign and is visiting Namibia this month, entrenching herself in the movement to protect the critically endangered black rhino species and preserve the population.