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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.
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The illegal trade in giant African harvester ants endangers local biodiversity and could spread invasive species in destination countries. Four men were convicted in May for attempting to smuggle 5 440 giant African harvester ants from Kenya to Europe and Asia. The suspects (from Belgium, Vietnam and Kenya) were ordered to pay US$7 700 each or face a year in jail. While their collection of queen ants was valued at KSh1.2 million (US$9 300) locally, each insect was reportedly worth US$233. Once in their destination countries, the haul would fetch US$1 267 520.
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| KEN_2025_10_Ant traffickers in Kenya expose gaps in biodiversity protection_ISS Africa.pdf | 108.5 KB |
The number of endangered rhinos poached in Namibia reached the highest level on record in 2022, as twice as many animals - 87 compared to 45 - were killed in 2021, official government data showed on Monday (30 January). Africa's rhino population has been decimated over the decades to feed demand for rhino horn, which, despite being made of the same stuff as rhino hair and fingernails, is prized in East Asia as jewelry and fake medicine. The horns are worth tens of thousands of dollars in illegal Asian markets.
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| NAM_2023_01_Namibia rhino poaching cross_border syndicates_The North Africa Post.pdf | 93.88 KB |
Poachers have since January killed 106 rhinos in the South African KwaZulu-Natal province, surpassing numbers for the whole of 2021, claims a poaching report partially released last week.
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| SA_2022_05_Rhino Poaching on the Rise in South Africa_OCCRP.pdf | 564.83 KB |
Every day about two rhinoceroses are killed in South Africa for their horns. Be it for traditional medical purposes, or to impress friends with gifts such as carved figurines and necklaces, the demand in East Asia is high for rhino horns and wealthy buyers are willing to pay a good price. South Africa, on the other hand, is home to two third of Africa's rhinos while nearly half of the adult population lives in poverty.
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| SA_2020-12_NGO Poverty Fuels South African Wildlife Crimes_OCCRP.pdf | 460.93 KB |