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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.
In what is being treated as another poaching incident, game rangers at a private reserve near Paulpietersburg discovered two dead rhinos and a third one wounded on Monday. The horns of the two dead rhinos had been removed. This gruesome discovery follows a previous incident at the same reserve on July 25, when rhinos were also targeted by poachers. In connection with that case, three men - Simanga Mnguni (42), Betwell Baloye (27) and Muziwakhe Nkosi (38) - were arrested and scheduled to face a bail hearing in the Vryheid District Court on August 14.
On March 23, 2025, a critical wildlife crime operation unfolded in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, a known hub for organized crime and wildlife trafficking. With assistance from Focused Conservation, the Nigeria Special Wildlife Office (NSWO), supported by the Nigeria Customs Police, executed Operation Willow - an intelligence-driven sting to dismantle a key trafficking network supplying pangolin scales. The NSWO acted on intelligence indicating that a trafficker in the region was actively supplying pangolin scales for the illegal wildlife trade.
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| NIG_2025_04_Operation Willow_Major pangolin trafficking bust in Nigeria_Focused Conservation.pdf | 117.78 KB |
Another two rhinos were killed and their horns cut off and thus despite the efforts of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife’s attempts to dehorn rhinos in KZN as quickly as possible to try and curb the bloodlust killings of rhinos for their horns. The two rhinos were killed in the Pongola area, the exact location of the poaching is known the Vryheid Herald but due to safety reasons will not be disclosed. On January 28 there were reports of shots that were fired in a game reserve. Police together with several other security entities swept the area and found two rhino carcasses without their…
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| SA_2025_02_One man arrested after two rhino killings_Northern Natal News.pdf | 193.87 KB |
In a major breakthrough for wildlife conservation efforts, the Special Wildlife Investigation Unit (SWIU) has successfully apprehended Amadou Bah, an internationally renowned trafficker of pangolin scales. This significant arrest comes after Bah had eluded capture since January 2024, following the seizure of 176 kilos of pangolin scales in Grand Gedah County, Liberia. The SWIU, mentored by Focused Conservation, is comprised of officers from the Liberia National Police, Liberia Forestry Development Authority, and Liberia Customs.
The Federal Operations Unit (FOU) of the Nigeria Customs Zone D, Bauchi has declared that its
operatives have arrested and seized 216 kgs of Pangolin scales worth the sum of N432m.
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| NIG_2023_06_Customs impounds pangolin scales worth N432m_Nigerian Tribune.pdf | 255.36 KB |