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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Major plans, including oil drilling and hydropower, are threatening wildlife and natural resource management across the five-nation Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (Kaza-TFCA). World Wildlife Fund (WWF) director in Namibia Juliane Zeidler said this at the just-ended 2025 Insaka Symposium held in Namibia. She said a number of activities are being planned in many parts of the Kaza-TFCA, such as drilling for oil in the Okavango River Basin in the Kavango East region, which lies near the elephant movement corridor in the Mangetti National Park.
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| NAM_2025_11_Kaza plans could threaten wildlife_conservation fund_The Namibian.pdf | 172.4 KB |
Fifteen people accused of financial crimes related to rhino poaching briefly appeared in the Nelspruit Commercial Crimes Court on Monday. Among the accused were two former field rangers and some of their relatives. While the majority of the respondents appear to be from a humble background, almost all of them are represented by private advocates. Although the State was ready to commence with trial proceedings, the matter was provisionally postponed to February 27 for possible pretrial conference.
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| SA_2025_01_15 accused of rhino poaching_linked financial crimes appear in Mbombela court_Citizen.pdf | 177.14 KB |
The Sabi Sand Nature Reserve in Greater Kruger experienced zero rhino poaching incidents in more than 500 days. The prestigious private reserve attributed the feat to several measures, including cutting-edge technologies like surveillance drones, real-time tracking, and AI-powered tools. Among the entities the reserve thanked for the technological solution to help combat poaching is the Connected Conservation Foundation (CCF). The CCF is working with 19 reserves across Africa and South America to test and improve tech solutions for conservation.
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| SA_2025_01_Kick in the teeth for rhino poachers at top South African game reserve_My Boardband.pdf | 248.03 KB |
Four days of court transcriptions seem be missing in the trial of alleged rhino poaching kingpin Joseph Nyalungu and his three remaining co-accused, Claude Lubisi, Aretha Mhlanga and Rachel Qwebana. This emerged as the quartet of former police officers briefly appeared in the Mpumalanga High Court this morning, January 17. Their appearance follows a postponement late last year to settle financial instructions in a trial that commenced more than three years ago, in September 2021.
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| SA_2025_01_Transcripts missing in alleged rhino poaching kingpin Joseph Nyalungus trial_LowVelder.pdf | 166.24 KB |
While visitors to the Kruger Park were enjoying their peaceful festive season bush breaks, poachers were quietly mowing down rhinos within the Intensive Protection Zone. A staggering 27% of all rhinos poached in the Kruger National Park last year is understood to have been slaughtered in December. Three of these were slaughtered for their horns around Christmas, and another at New Year’s Eve, leaving two young calves orphaned.
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| SA_2025_01_Festive season a bloodbath for Kruger rhinos_Citizen.pdf | 462.17 KB |
The International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (CIC) says it supports Namibia's proposal to the Convention on International Trade on Endangered Species (Cites) to transfer its population of white rhinoceros from Appendix I to Appendix II. This would be for the exclusive purpose of allowing international trade in live animals for in-situ conservation and trophy hunting.
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| NAM_2022_09_International body backs Namibia s rhino trophy hunting bid_The Namibian.pdf | 775.17 KB |