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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The bird man is at his desk, vaping and working the phone. Fly traps coated with insects dangle from the ceiling. Tigers and lions pace fenced enclosures in the backyard. Tilting in his swivel chair - legs crossed, plaid short-sleeve shirt unbuttoned to the chest, reading glasses propped on his balding head - Gideon Fourie takes a long drag on his blue vape and begins to tell me how he became one of South Africa's leading parrot traders. "The African grey is the best talking and friendly [sic] bird in the world," Fourie says, rolling the R's in his heavily Afrikaans-inflected…
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| SA_2025_11_The parrot cartel_Wire online.pdf | 1.43 MB |
Police in KwaZulu-Natal have arrested three suspected poachers who were found in possession of two unlicensed rifles and a rhino horn in Paulpietersburg on Saturday. It’s alleged that the men, aged between 34 and 50, entered a game reserve and stormed up to two security guards while wearing face masks.
A former field ranger, tasked with protecting wildlife, has been sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment for killing a rhino in the Nwanetsi section of the Kruger National Park in 2020. Eckson Musa Matumbu was sentenced at the Skukuza Regional Court on Friday. According to the South African National Parks (SANParks), Matumbu was arrested in February 2020 for killing a rhino with an official firearm issued to him and using non-issued ammunition. He was initially granted bail, which was later cancelled; the case was remanded to October 2023 for conviction and…
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| SA_2023_11_Former Kruger National Park field ranger sentenced to 10 years for rhino killing_News24.pdf | 158.94 KB |
Four men were arrested after allegedly being found in possession of perlemoen and diving equipment near Port Alfred on Tuesday. An off-duty Port Alfred police officer apprehended four men after allegedly catching them with about R13,000 worth of perlemoen. Police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender said the officer, based at a unit in Port Alfred, received information about possible perlemoen poachers in the Kasouga area.
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| SA_2021_05_Four arrested for perlemoen poaching near Port Alfred_Heral Live.pdf | 446.42 KB |
When a squad of federal and state law enforcement agents with guns and bulletproof vests entered a single-story brick home in Buffalo, New York, on July 5, 2018 they were searching for business records of a suspected criminal enterprise. Experts trained to handle dangerous exotic cats congregated in a sunroom pungent with the odor of cat urine.
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| INTERNATIONAL_2020_12_Black_market wildlife trade_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 976.18 KB |