Search results

From sharks, rhinos to giraffes - they are the focus of the species conservation conference in Samarkand. As of November 24, 185 states in Uzbekistan will be wrestling over trade bans and restrictions. There is a lot at stake: the fate of more than 230 animal and plant species is being decided. The organization Pro Wildlife warns in advance of dangerous steps backwards in the Washington Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which regulates or even prohibits the international trade in plants and animals.

From 24 November to 5 December 2025, governments from around the world will gather in Samarkand, Uzbekistan for the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP20) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). This meeting comes at a moment of great consequence for some of the world's most threatened species - elephants, rhinos, pangolins, Asian big cats and the critically endangered vaquita porpoise.

Despite Africa's elephants and rhinos still living under serious threat from poaching and illegal trade, Namibia is pushing hard to resume ivory and horn sales. From 23 November to 5 December, representatives of the 185 countries that are signatories to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) will gather in Samarkand, Uzbekistan for the 20th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CoP20).

The High Court of Kibera (Nairobi) on April 8th, 2025, dismissed the appeal of Lawrence Kinoti who, the previous November, had been sentenced to life imprisonment with a second prison warder, Paul Muranu Mwangi. Judge Diana Kavedza-Mochache found “the appeal to be lacking in merit and is dismissed in its entirety”. Kinoti and Mwangi had been arrested at the Rio Hotel in Nairobi West on August 11th, 2015 after KWS investigators had received intelligence that the two and one other were selling ivory. A third prison warder, Kipkoech Cheruiyot escaped but was arrested a few days…

A middle aged woman will serve a 12 years jail term after a Kabarnet court found her guilty of trading in wildlife trophies. Esther Chebii, appeared before Senior Resident Magistrate (SRM) Edwin Mulochi for the offence which occurred on May 27, 2023 at around 6pm at Kabarnet town in Baringo central sub-county, where she was nabbed with five pieces of elephant tusks weighing 15.7 kilograms and 105 pieces of pangolin scales weighing two kilograms with a street value of Sh 2.37 million.

Zhanjiang Customs of China announced on 17 May that the individual - named only as Huang inthe official statement - had been arrested and repatriated from Mozambique . EIA commends China Customs for its commitment to criminal justice and we congratulate it on thislatest success. The Shuidong ivory smuggling network was first exposed by EIA in 2017 , following our three-yearinvestigation tracing the syndicate's operations in Tanzania and Mozambique. The syndicate came from Shuidong, in Guangdong province, China.

There was barely a dry eye in the Kwale courtroom last Monday afternoon, June 10th, 2024, when Augustine Odwori Malingo and Nancy Akoth Owino were sentenced by Principal Magistrate Lillian Lewa. They had been found guilty of possession of wildlife trophies that included 4 ivory tusk pieces weighing 500 grammes and 1 hippo tooth weighing a similar amount from their 2019 arrest.

There was no judgement for the third time. Since the last sitting of this matter, the presiding magistrate, Senior Principal Magistrate Joe Mkutu Omido has successfully attained the appointment as a Judge of the High Court. This matter is now "on notice", meaning that involved and interested parties will be notified when the judgement will be given. As a point of interest, the three magistrates that have handled this case have all been promoted to the High Court.

KWS investigates the bulk of wildlife crime generally but it does happen that the National Police Service and the Directorate of Criminal also become involved in the same. The DCI, in fact, becomes the lead agency in the more serious wildlife investigations such as large, transnational, ivory seizures. A 2018-2019 courtroom monitoring report by Wildlife Direct indicated that of data analyzed, 31% of arrests under the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act were made by the NPS.

A major shipment of 651 pieces of elephant ivory has been seized in Mozambique en route to Dubai. Officials from Mozambique's Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) and the Tax Authority intercepted a container at Maputo port on 22 March 2024 and found the ivory concealed in a shipment of bags of corn. This is the third known large-scale seizure of elephant ivory exported from Mozambique since 2022.

Three years ago this month, the Ugandan authorities seized a significant quantity of elephant ivory and pangolin scales en-route to Vietnam through Kenya. Acting on intelligence, the Ugandan Revenue Authority (URA) conducted a law enforcement operation targeting a Vietnamese wildlife trafficking network. It seized 3,299kg of elephant ivory - the largest ivory seizure in Uganda to date - and 424kg of pangolin scales.