This archive of published media articles about wildlife crime in Namibia aims to:
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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It's past midnight and the officer manning Namibia's fisheries monitoring centre in Walvis Bay notices that a vessel near the Namibia-Angola border has stopped transmitting its location. At the same time, a Namibian fishing vessel's radar detects a foreign vessel notorious for illegal fishing, entering Namibia's waters. Both the officer and the vessel alert the Namibian navy and the fisheries department in Walvis Bay. Calls to the vessel's flag state remain unanswered, and without a law enforcement vessel located near the Namibia-Angola maritime border, the foreign vessel escapes…
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NAM_2025_06_Fauna_Foreign fishing vessels plunder Namibias horse mackerel_Enact Africa.pdf | 101.69 KB |
Masai giraffe calves and other juvenile African wildlife are being exported from Tanzania to the Sharjah Safari in Al Dhaid in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the pleasure of Dubai royalty and tourists. Human Rights Watch reports that the shooting and capture of animals, including the endangered Masai giraffe, and their transfer to Dubai are part of a long-running syndicate between successive Tanzanian governments and the Otterlo (sometimes Ortello) Business Corporation (OBC). This syndicate has been active since Ali Hassan Mwinyi’s presidency in the 1980s and 1990s.
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TAN_2025_01_Fauna_Elite syndicate threatens Tanzanias Masai giraffe_Enact Africa.pdf | 138.66 KB |
Masai giraffe calves and other juvenile African wildlife are being exported from Tanzania to the Sharjah Safari in Al Dhaid in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the pleasure of Dubai royalty and tourists. Human Rights Watch reports that the shooting and capture of animals, including the endangered Masai giraffe, and their transfer to Dubai are part of a long-running syndicate between successive Tanzanian governments and the Otterlo (sometimes Ortello) Business Corporation (OBC). This syndicate has been active since Ali Hassan Mwinyi's presidency in the 1980s and 1990s.
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TAN_2025_01_Tanzania_Elite syndicate threatens tanzanias Masai Giraffe_Enact.pdf | 364.41 KB |
Poaching threatens the survival of savanna elephants in Central Africa. Over the last two decades, the Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants programme has recorded 3 004 illegal elephant kills in this region. In April 2023, several elephants were killed in the Beinamar region of Chad, close to the Cameroon border, sparking concerns about a potential resurgence of poaching in this region. The Bouba Ndjida National Park, located in the North Region of Cameroon, shares a border with the Sena Oura Biosphere Reserve in Chad.
Poaching threatens the survival of savanna elephants in Central Africa. Over the last two decades, the Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants programme has recorded 3 004 illegal elephant kills in this region. In April 2023, several elephants were killed in the Beinamar region of Chad, close to the Cameroon border, sparking concerns about a potential resurgence of poaching in this region. The Bouba Ndjida National Park, located in the North Region of Cameroon, shares a border with the Sena Oura Biosphere Reserve in Chad.
TPO - On November 30, the Customs Sub- Department of Noi Bai International Airport (Hanoi Customs Department) said that the unit had just discovered 2 Vietnamese passengers suspected of transporting rhino horn from abroad. These two passengers traveled on flight number QR984 from Angola via Doha to Vietnam.
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VIETNAM_2024_12_Noi Bai Customs detected 2 tourists suspected of transporting rhino horn.pdf | 237.29 KB |
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.
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BOT_202309_Cape pangolin poaching on the rise_Mmegi Online.pdf | 295.21 KB |
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.
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ZIM_2023_07_Zim duo in illegal possession of pangolin_Mmegi Online.pdf | 241.41 KB |
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.
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BOT_2023_06_Pangolin poacher convicted_MmegiOnline.pdf | 234.41 KB |
Franzistown: A tenderpreneur has pleaded with the court to be lenient when sentencing him after pleading guilty to illegal possession of an elephant tusk.
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BOT_2021_09_Tenderpreneur pleads guilty to illegal ivory possession_Mmegionline.pdf | 365.51 KB |
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.
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BOT_2021_09_Appeal Against SADC Poaching Ringleader Stalls_Mmegionline.pdf | 351.03 KB |
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.
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BOT_2021_03_Rhino poaching_Khama is lying malicious grossly irresponsible_Mmegi.pdf | 380.04 KB |
BDF is investigating a case in which the suspected poacher allegedly stabbed the soldier with a sharp object during an anti-poaching operation.
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BOT_2020-11_Poaching suspect injures soldier_Mmegi Online.pdf | 262.02 KB |
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.
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BOT_2020-03_Mmegi Online_Soldier_poacher killed in rhino hotspot shootout.pdf | 322.82 KB |
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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BOT_2020-02_ Mmegi Online_Of body bags and poached rhinos.pdf | 285.17 KB |