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Nairobi, Kenya: Eleven cheetah cubs were rescued from illegal trade in Somaliland in what a conservationist described on Thursday as "one of the largest confiscations of the species." The cubs were packed in bags that resembled sacks of potatoes and were being transported in a small dhow off the Somaliland coast at Berbera when the local coast guard intercepted them on Sunday. Two locals and three Yemenis were arrested during the rescue operation, and the cheetahs were taken to a rescue center owned by the Cheetah Conservation Fund, or CCF.

Cape Town, South Africa - Poachers in South Africa killed more than 100 rhinos in the first three months of this year, most of them inside national parks, highlighting an ongoing battle to protect one of the best-known endangered species. South African Environment Minister Dion George announced the figures Monday and said that of the 103 rhinos killed between Jan. 1 and March 31, 65 were poached in national parks. The average of more than one rhino killed a day is in line with last year's count and "a stark reminder of the relentless threat to our wildlife," George said.

Three suspected rhino poachers are expected in court after their arrest in northern KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday. Police spokesperson Col Robert Netshiunda said they were arrested in Pongola shortly after midnight as part of Operation Vala Umgodi. "Police collected intelligence about the three suspects who were travelling from Hluhluwe to a game farm in Magudu area where they were reportedly going to poach rhinos. An operation was put in motion and the suspects' vehicle was intercepted on the R66 Road in the Pongola policing precinct," he said.

The Skukuza regional court on Monday sentenced Friday Ngobeni to 10 years' imprisonment for poaching-related offences from six years ago. The court convicted Ngobeni, 45, of trespassing, possession of an illegal firearm and ammunition, conspiracy to commit an offence, possession of a dangerous weapon and possession of a firearm with the serial number obliterated. On November 29 2017, rangers were patrolling in the Kruger National Park in a helicopter at Stols Nek and spotted Ngobeni and his co-accused Mastel Ngobeni, National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Monica Nyuswa said…

Rhinos were poached to near extinction in Zimbabwe. Now a private wildlife sanctuary is reintroducing them to places.

Last week's sting operation not only saved a young female Temminck's pangolin from the clutches of poachers, but her unborn pangopup too.

A Kuruman man was convicted for being in possession of R250,000 worth of pangolin scales and the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition by the Kuruman magistrate's court on Friday. John Henry Rautenbach, 25, was arrested by the Hawks’ serious organised crime investigation unit in August last year after the unit received information that an illegal firearm was being kept at an address in the Northern Cape.

The rampant increase in wildlife poaching has been widely acknowledged as one of the greatest threats to biodiversity conservation in Africa. The Asian demand for rhinoceros horn has seen a massive onslaught on the white rhino (Ceratotherium simum) and black rhino (Diceros bicornis) populations. Since 2008, there has been a gradual and then explosive growth in rhino poaching in South Africa and, to a lesser extent, Mozambique and Botswana.