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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.

Explore your search results using the filter checkboxes, or amend your search or start a new search.

Displaying results 1 - 22 of 22
Wednesday, 8 October 2025
2025. South Africa: Tragic news from the Eastern Cape.

A pregnant rhino has been shot dead and dehorned by poachers on a game reserve near Alexandria. The incident comes as a gruesome reminder of the rhino poaching scourge, which has been relatively quiet in the Eastern Cape in the past six months but continues to threaten the survival of the species. We will update with more information once it becomes available. The only info circulating at the moment is currently behind a pay wall, which we don't have access to.

Friday, 3 October 2025
2025. Live pangolin saved from the illegal trade.

South Africa: Great team work guys. Live pangolin saved from the illegal trade - disgraceful that 2 cops were among the suspects arrested! In an intelligence driven operation yesterday, 4 suspects were arrested at Makro Wonderboom, Pretoria, 2 were SAPS police officers, 2 x 9mm pistols retrieved. Outstanding work from SAPS Cullinan stock theft and Endangered species, SAPS Silverton K9 and support from US Homeland Security

Thursday, 11 September 2025
2025. 2 traffickers arrested with 32kg ivory.

EAGLE Côte d'Ivoire - 2 traffickers arrested with 32kg ivory. The ivory, concealed in a rice sack, was trafficked from Liberia. The Burkina Faso National trafficker denounced the other for being a known big ivory trafficker.

Friday, 22 August 2025
2025. Mozambique: Man arrested with elephant tusks, two others escape in Mágoè, Tete Province.

Mozambican police have arrested a person trying to sell four elephant tusks in Mágoè, Tete province, central Mozambique, a source from the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) has said. "This is an arrest in flagrante delicto, which occurred in Mágoè district, where this individual was in possession of four ivory tips, weighing approximately 22 kilograms," Sernic spokesperson in Tete, Celina Roque, told media.

Sunday, 20 July 2025
2025. Zimbabwe Police has arrested one Cong Yanzhong.

Zimbabwe Police has arrested one Cong Yanzhong from China for possession of 3 rhino horns worth US$240 000 and 4 pieces of raw ivory weighing 36kgs . The Chinese national appeared in court and was remanded in custody to 22 July 2025 for trial.

Thursday, 3 July 2025
2025. As of July 3, 2025, the trial of former Kruger National Park (KNP) regional ranger Rodney Landela and his co-accused, Kenneth Motshotsho, continues in the Skukuza Regional Court.
As of July 3, 2025, the trial of former Kruger National Park (KNP) regional ranger Rodney Landela and his co-accused, Kenneth Motshotsho, continues in the Skukuza Regional Court. The two face multiple charges related to the poaching of a white rhino in the Kingfisherspruit area in 2016.
Tuesday, 20 May 2025
2025. Mozambique: Man arrested for trying to sell 12 elephant tusks - Watch.

Police in Mozambique yesterday arrested a man who was trying to sell elephant tusks in the city of Pemba, Cabo Delgado province, in the north of the country. The 40-year-old man was caught trying to sell the tusks for 2,000 meticais (€28) per kilogram in the Metula neighbourhood of the provincial capital, police spokesperson Eugénia Nhamússua told the media today. "We are processing the report to legalise his arrest, for subsequent steps," she explained.

Tuesday, 4 March 2025
2025. Mozambique: Poaching "virtually under control".

The general director of Mozambique’s National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC), Pejul Calenga, believes that poaching in the country is now virtually under control. "10 or 15 years ago, we were losing between 1,000 and 1,500 elephants every year", said Calenga, interviewed by Radio Mozambique on Monday. "But currently the losses are less than 100 a year". He added that, in some conservation areas, there had been no deaths at all of elephants at the hands of poachers for two consecutive years.

Thursday, 19 October 2023
2023. Mozambique: SERNIC arrests two in possession of elephant tusks.

Mozambique's National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) on Wednesday detained two individuals, in Beira city, in the central province of Sofala, who were caught redhanded in the possession of elephant tusks that they were trying to sell.

Friday, 22 September 2023
2023. Mozambique: SERNIC arrests two for poaching.

Mozambique's National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) has arrested two people in Moatize district, in the central province of Tete, for attempting to sell a pangolin.

Monday, 4 September 2023
Bothoko P 2023. Cape pangolin poaching on the rise.

The illegal trade in Cape pangolin scales amongst East African nations is suspected to be the driving force behind the unlawful killing of the creatures in Botswana.

Wednesday, 26 July 2023
Mosikare L 2023. Zim duo in illegal possession of pangolin.

Francistown: Two men from Zimbabwe appeared in court Tuesday to face a count of capturing a protected game animal and another for entering Botswana unlawfully. According to the charge sheet, Kelvi Maposa, 43, and Matitshidza Sibanda, 33, both unemployed and from Plumtree in Zimbabwe, being persons not licensed, authorised or exempted unlawfully captured a pangolin being a protected game animal without a permit to do so.

Wednesday, 28 June 2023
Kraai Z 2023. Pangolin poacher convicted.

Tsabong Police Station Commander, Superintendent Christopher Tlhapi-David says the recent interception of poachers by his team in which the suspects were later found in possession of a pangolin, signals concern for other protected species.

Wednesday, 26 April 2023
2023. Man arrested in possession of a leopard skull and skin in central Mozambique.

A 40-year-old man has been arrested in possession of a leopard skull and skin, the National Criminal Investigation Service of Mozambique (Sernic) has announced. "The man was caught red-handed on April 22," Sernic spokesman Alfeu Sitoe said at a press conference in the city of Beira. The suspect claimed to have received the product from a friend, now a fugitive, who intended to sell it to a foreigner in Beira’s Alto da Manga neighbourhood for 60,000 meticais (€856).

Tuesday, 18 April 2023
2023. Mozambique: Man arrested in possession of lions' teeth and claws.

A 38-year-old citizen is currently detained in the city of Beira, Sofala province, accused of killing and possession of prohibited species. At the time of his arrest, the suspect had four lion teeth and 14 lion claws in his possession.

Monday, 14 March 2022
2022. Mozambique: Over 230 poachers arrested in Zinave National Park in five years - Lusa.

Over 230 poachers were arrested, and over 300 firearms seized, between 2016 and 2021, in the Zinave National Park in Mozambique, the manager of the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC) said on Monday.

Wednesday, 15 September 2021
Mosikare L 2021. Tenderpreneur pleads guilty to illegal ivory possession.

Franzistown: A tenderpreneur has pleaded with the court to be lenient when sentencing him after pleading guilty to illegal possession of an elephant tusk.

Monday, 13 September 2021
Mosikare L 2021. Appeal against 'SADC poaching ringleader' stalls.

Francistown: It is more than two years since the state successfully appealed the case of the alleged SADC poaching ringleader, Dumisani Moyo, on urgency but has not acted on the appeal thereafter. In May 2019, Magistrate Lebogang Kebeetsweng acquitted and discharged Moyo of allegedly unlawfully being found in possession of a rhinoceros horn contrary to Section 70 of the Wildlife Conservation and National Parks Act.

Tuesday, 2 March 2021
2021. Rhino poaching: 'Khama is lying, malicious, grossly irresponsible'.

The Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) director Kabelo Senyatso has strongly refuted claims by former president Ian Khama that 120 rhinos have been poached in the last 18 months.

Wednesday, 25 November 2020
Bothoko P 2020. Poaching suspect injures soldier.

BDF is investigating a case in which the suspected poacher allegedly stabbed the soldier with a sharp object during an anti-poaching operation.

Wednesday, 11 March 2020
2020. Soldier, poacher killed in rhino hotspot shootout.

Botswana Defence Force (BDF) soldier and a poacher have died during a poaching incident that happened early this morning at Chiefs Island in heart of the Okavango Delta, the army has confirmed.

Friday, 14 February 2020
2020. Of body bags and poached rhinos.

Shoot-to-kill policies just don’t work, are immoral and unlawful too. To my knowledge, the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) and Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) anti-poaching squads have killed well over 60 alleged poachers since the late 1980s with no discernible effect.

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