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Namibian Wildlife Crimes article archive

This archive of published media articles about wildlife crime in Namibia aims to:

  • provide easy public access to published information and statistics
  • enable easy stakeholder access to articles
  • provide a comprehensive archive of wildlife crime reporting in Namibia

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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Displaying results 1 - 9 of 9
Friday, 22 December 2023
Smit E 2023. Wildlife conflict, poaching threaten conservation.

Wildlife conservation continues to face the acute challenges of poaching, habitat fragmentation and human-wildlife conflict. Environment ministry executive director Teofilus Nghitila said due to Namibia's successful conservation methods, which have led to increased wildlife populations outside national parks, human-wildlife conflict has increased. "The situation is worsened by the current disparities in rainfall as well as the growing human population," he said in his end-of-year message.

Thursday, 21 December 2023
Smit E 2023. Rhino poaching decreased by half.

Environment ministry executive director Teofilus Nghitila says 48 rhinos have been poached so far this year. The figure shows a decrease from the 92 animals poached last year. Meanwhile, eight elephants were poached this year - compared to four last year - but this still much better than the previous years' figures, which reached 27 in 2018. The ministry – in collaboration with various law enforcement agencies - set up a response team when poaching skyrocketed in 2013.

Wednesday, 20 December 2023
Smit E 2023. Pangolin trafficking arrests surge.

There has been an increase in the number of arrests made in crimes related to pangolin trafficking between 1 September and 30 November. According to environment ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda, 18 pangolin skins, 12 live pangolins and 146 scales were confiscated, resulting in 23 registered cases and 38 suspects being arrested. "These numbers surpass that of elephant and rhino arrests combined for this period."

Sunday, 17 December 2023
Smit E 2023. Organised crime low in Namibia - Report.

Namibia's average criminal market score was 4.1, an increase of 0.2 since 2021. The country scored 3.5 on human trafficking and 4.5 in arms trafficking. For flora crimes, Namibia scored 6.5, and for fauna crimes - which would include rhino poaching and the linked trade in horns - it scored 4.5.

Wednesday, 24 September 2014
Smit E 2014. Namibian links to SA "rhino mafia".

A South African poaching kingpin linked to the killing of more than 22 rhinos valued at nearly N$22 million was rearrested shortly after a court appearance on earlier poaching charges in which a co-accused has been linked to Namibia. In the latest case, it has emerged that the same tranquilliser was used in a rhino killing spree for which professional hunter and game farmer Hugo Ras and two veterinarians were arrested more than two years ago.

Thursday, 11 September 2014
Smit E 2014. More charges may follow in rhino horn case.

The case against three Chinese nationals - accused of trying to smuggle 14 rhino horns valued at N$2 million out of Namibia - has been postponed for further investigations and the possible adding further charges. Li Xiaoliang, Li Zhibing and Pu Xuexin have been charged with the possession and export of controlled wildlife products, after they were allegedly caught with the 14 rhino horns and a leopard skin in their suitcases at the Hosea Kutako International Airport on March 23.

Tuesday, 9 September 2014
Smit E 2014. Interpol joins Namibia's anti-poaching war.

International policing agency Interpol has joined hands with Namibia in its fight against escalating rhino and elephant poaching, including through teaching advanced crime scene investigation, probing transnational linkages and uncovering who the kingpins of the wild crime syndicates are. In what is a first for Namibia the Interpol Sub-directorate on Environment Crime has stepped in to train Namibian police officers, particularly members of the Protective Resources Unit, and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism.

Sunday, 7 September 2014
Smit E 2014. Anti-poaching battle taken to the net.

A new front has been opened in the battle against wildlife crime - a WikiLeaks-type website where people can report poaching and other activities to seasoned experts for investigation. The website known as WildLeaks has already received up 50 tip-offs in the last seven months from African countries such as Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Liberia, Malawi and Zambia.

Wednesday, 3 September 2014
Smit E 2014. Elephant poaching escalates.

The Ministry of Environment and Tourism yesterday confirmed that 33 elephants have been poached in Namibia this year. In the most recent case, two suspects were arrested in the Divundu area of the Kavango East Region on Friday. They were arrested when they tried to sell elephant bone as ivory to unsuspecting people.

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