Search results

In the forests of Cameroon, a single conservation program has seized 1,392 kg of bushmeat, arrested 25 poachers, and destroyed 260 hunting camps, yet hunting pressure resumes whenever enforcement resources are withdrawn. This pattern, repeated across Africa, reveals the fundamental challenge facing wildlife conservation: economic incentives consistently outweigh protection measures when conservation efforts fail to address the underlying livelihood dependencies that drive wildlife exploitation.

Illegal activities that pose significant challenges in most of Africa include habitat loss through charcoal production, illicit harvesting of timber, poaching of wildlife, and overfishing of water resources. In the Lugenda Wildlife Reserve (LUWIRE) within the Niassa Special Reserve of northern Mozambique, these issues are being addressed head-on.

To make chuparosa love charms, the birds are first illegally killed. The methods are not fully known, but available information suggests that slingshots were traditionally used. Currently, they are also dispatched with nets and shotguns, loaded with shells containing tiny pellets. Their bodies are desiccated, usually in eviscerated form. They are then sealed in a paper tube, wrapped in thread, and placed in a bag with a prayer card called an oracione. Contemporary chuparosa charms often also have a Hecho En Mexico (Made in Mexico) sticker attached.

By the 1950s, Nile crocodiles in Zimbabwe were nearly extinct. Commercial hunters had killed most of them for their valuable skins. The crocodiles were easy targets because they lived in predictable locations, hunters could spot them easily at night with spotlights, and each kill was worth a lot of money. Instead of banning all crocodile hunting, wildlife authorities did something unexpected: they allowed people to start commercial crocodile farms. Why did this work? Three reasons: Undercut the black market: Legal farms could supply skins, reducing demand for poached ones.

With the endless challenges facing African governments, such as poverty, inadequate infrastructure, unemployment, and institutional fragility, wildlife conservation is invariably at the bottom of the "to-do list". One of Africa's central paradoxes is that the continent has unparalleled natural wealth, from iconic megafauna to diverse ecosystems, but most nations can't afford to care for it. The brutal math of governance forces difficult choices. Build schools or protect elephants?

Over the past twenty years, the organizations operating in the eastern concession blocks of Niassa Special Reserve, straddling Niassa and Cabo Delgado Provinces, Kambako, Luwire, Chuilexi Conservancy, and Mariri/Niassa Carnivore Project, have made one of the largest and longest-standing investments in conservation and rural development in Mozambique. Together, these organizations protect over 17,842 km² of wilderness in Niassa across eight concessions, supporting wildlife and people across 28 villages with 14,649 residents.

Between 2011 and 2012, caravans of Sudanese poachers decimated Northern Cameroon's elephant population with shocking speed. Where elephants were once a daily sight, all signs of them disappeared entirely. The poachers operated in heavily armed groups of 25 to 30 men, traveling on camels and horses. Whenever Professional Hunter Guav Johnson or his teams discovered their fresh tracks, they had to withdraw from the area to avoid dangerous confrontations. The Sudanese poachers' route was methodical.

The deserts and semi-arid regions of South Africa are home to some of the world's most unique and diverse succulent plant species. But these botanical treasures are vanishing at an alarming rate through poaching. The silent theft of these ancient, slow-growing plants is pushing entire species to the brink of extinction, transforming ecological systems that have evolved over millions of years. SA Hunters and Game Conservation Association (SA Hunters) is traditionally known for its focus on sustainable hunting and wildlife conservation.

One of the key takeaways from the Snare Mitigation Symposium held in Pretoria in September 2024 was the issue of the prosecution and sentencing of snare poachers in South Africa. High-profile cases of rhino horn and elephant ivory trafficking are headline-grabbing, but meat poaching using snares and dogs is probably a more serious issue. The effects of snare poaching are staggering, and while anti-poaching operations are vital, the current laws and enforcement need to be examined.

The blurb for an editorial in The Namibian newspaper on 9 November read: "From Kavango to Kunene, down south across the breadth and width of Namibia, the scramble for the country’s mineral, oil and energy sources is in overdrive." The article ended: "Government officials have turned Namibia into an unsustainable El Dorado with a vicious cycle of short-term searches for riches dishing out mining exploration licences to a select few." As you read this, graders, excavators and tipper trucks are hacking a road through three conservancies famous for their conservation of endangered,…

Northern Cameroon is characterized by flat to gently undulating countryside, with vast plains and occasional rocky outcrops that stretch over a mix of dry and wet savannah landscapes. Large ephemeral rivers create seasonal wetlands and floodplains important for agriculture and wildlife. The northernmost parts of this region are a part of the Sahel, which marks a transition between the desert and the more fertile savannah to the south. The region falls within the Sudano-Sahelian climatic zone, which experiences distinct wet and dry seasons.

The game ranching industry in South Africa in the 1960s was based primarily on venison production and a small amount of photographic tourism. There was very little demand for white rhinos because they were specially protected animals; they couldn’t be safari hunted. Private landowners didn’t want rhinos because they required much capital investment in fencing and security. They were also in competition for food with other wildlife species that could generate income. The rhino was valueless.

One of Algoa Bay’s most valuable resources is being poached and plundered at an alarming rate. Nelson Mandela Bay has experienced a string of perlemoen-related incidents over the past few days, with experts in the field saying the illegal trade of this protected shellfish is now at an all-time high.

The Skukuza regional court on Friday sentenced a Mozambican national Joshua Mongwe to six years' imprisonment for poaching-related offences. The accused, 29, pleaded guilty to the offence and was subsequently convicted of trespassing in the Kruger National Park, contravention of Immigration Act, possession of ammunition.

Gqeberha police arrested a 28-year-old man on Wednesday after allegedly discovering perlemoen with an estimated street value of R3m in the bakkie he was driving.

Gauteng police have seized meat carcasses hijacked from a delivery truck, guns and ammunition, blue lights and signal jammers at a property in Alexandra, Johannesburg. An elephant tusk was also found at the 7th Avenue premises during Tuesday's operation, said police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi.

The Gqeberha-based economic protected resources team under the serious organised crime Investigation unit of the Hawks arrested a 43-year-old man on Friday for possession of perlemoen. The suspect joins his 10 co-accused, previously arrested in Algoa Park in May for allegedly being in possession of perlemoen, as well as running a yshing operation without a permit.

Ten suspects arrested for allegedly running an illegal perlemoen operation appeared in the Gqeberha magistrate’s court on Monday. Acting on a tip-off, the Hawks' Economic Protected Resources team in Gqeberha followed up on information about perlemoen activities at a residential premises in Algoa Park. Surveillance was conducted and law enforcement was granted a warrant to execute a search on Thursday last week, leading to the discovery of an alleged illegal operation.

The Wilderness Foundation has offered a reward in an effort to put the brakes on the recent spate of rhino poaching in the Eastern Cape.

Two rhinos that survived a poaching attack at Schotia Safaris Private Game Reserve, near Nanaga, nearly 10 years ago were killed by poachers on Thursday. After disabling the pair of male and female white rhinos in the attack, the poachers hacked off their horns with pangas before making their escape.

The Skukuza regional court on Thursday convicted and sentenced a man who had been arrested in the Kruger National Park on three separate occasions to an effective 32 years' imprisonment for poaching-related offences. Forster Lubisi, 43, was convicted of three counts of trespassing, two counts of possession of a prohibited firearm with a serial number obliterated, possession of ammunition, possession of a dangerous weapon, killing of a rhino and possession of an unlicensed firearm. He pleaded guilty to the crimes.

Two men were arrested for the possession of stolen firearms, ivory and other property on Friday in Cape St Francis.

Rhino conservation has received a major boost with the recent Gqeberha sentencing of a gang convicted of conspiring to poach rhino. The September 22 sentencing of the Chitlongo Three in the Gqeberha Regional Court, the first achieved under National Environmental Management Act "conspiracy to poach" legislation, gives SA lawmakers a lethal new weapon to pursue suspects who have often escaped prosecution in the past because of a lack of evidence.

Two men have been arrested in Jansenville with 39 black bags of perlemoen worth about R432,000 and an illegal firearm in their possession.

A high-speed chase by the Gqeberha flying squad and a private anti-poaching unit resulted in the arrest of six people for the illegal possession of perlemoen on Tuesday morning.

Four men were arrested after allegedly being found in possession of perlemoen and diving equipment near Port Alfred on Tuesday. An off-duty Port Alfred police officer apprehended four men after allegedly catching them with about R13,000 worth of perlemoen. Police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender said the officer, based at a unit in Port Alfred, received information about possible perlemoen poachers in the Kasouga area.