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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 - 5 of 5
Wednesday, 10 April 2024
Smit E 2024. Hundreds behind bars for rhino poaching.

A total of 707 suspects have been arrested in connection with rhino poaching between January 2023 and March of this year. Currently, 589 suspects are in custody awaiting trial, 91 suspects have been convicted, 21 are out on bail, five have been released, two were acquitted, and one suspect has died. Environment minister Pohamba Shifeta provided these statistics during his budget motivation for the 2024-2025 financial year.

Wednesday, 3 April 2024
Smit E 2024. Urgent meeting called to discuss steep rise in rhino poaching.
The environment ministry has called for an urgent high-level meeting with security clusters after 28 rhinos were poached in Namibia this year, with 19 of them killed in Etosha National Park.
Tuesday, 2 April 2024
Smit E 2024. 28 renosters reeds vanjaar gestroop.

'n Dringende hoëvlak-vergadering tussen die ministerie van omgewing, bosbou en toerisme en sekuriteitsgroepe is belê nadat 28 renosters in die eerste drie maande van die jaar in Namibië gestroop is. Uit die 28 renosters is 19 in die Etosha Nasionale Park gestroop. Volgens die ministerie se woordvoerder Romeo Muyunda is tien van die 19 gestroopte renosters in die park verlede maand tydens onthoringsoperasies ontdek.

Tuesday, 22 August 2023
Smit E 2023. FIC vital in fight against organised wildlife crimes.

The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) plays a vital role in countering organised wildlife crime in Namibia. With a renewed spike in rhino poaching in 2022, the FIC's role underlines the extent to which rhino poaching is driven by organised criminal gangs and the extensive criminal networks that facilitate horn trafficking. This is according to the National Namibia Wildlife Protection Report for 2022, which found that poaching and trafficking of live plants also appear to be coordinated via well-organised online platforms…

Tuesday, 1 August 2023
Smit E 2023. Lion bone trafficking rare in Namibia.

Cases of lion and other predator bone trafficking have been registered in Namibia, although cases are still rare, a new report has found. However, the illegal keeping and breeding of predators is much more widespread, and there is a reported increase in illegal practices within the trophy-hunting industry. This is according to the Wildlife Protection and Law Enforcement in Namibia report for 2022, which said that large African predators, including lions, leopards, cheetahs, spotted hyenas and brown hyenas, have created a unique dilemma…

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