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Mortalities at poisoned carcasses significantly contribute to the population decline of many vulture species. As vultures employ social strategies and follow each other in their search for food, one poisoned carcass can kill hundreds of individuals of endangered species such as the white-backed vulture.

When people think of wildlife trade, they often picture smugglers sneaking in rare and endangered species from far-off countries. Yet most wildlife trade is actually legal, and the United States is one of the world's biggest wildlife importers. New research that we and a team of colleagues published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that, over the last 22 years, people in the U.S. legally imported nearly 2.85 billion individual animals representing almost 30,000 species.

A series of environmental disasters in Zimbabwe have raised concern about the industry’s regulation and government’s ability to protect the environment. The disasters, including the death of 19 hippopotamuses in the Sapi Safari Area and Chirundu, along the Zambezi Valley, are believed to be a result of improper disposal of toxic chemicals, including cyanide and mercury, used in mining processes.

Habitat loss and poaching have driven dramatic declines in African elephants, but it is challengingto measure their numbers and monitor changes across the entire continent. A new study hasanalyzed 53 years of population survey data and found large-scale declines in most populations ofboth species of African elephants. From 1964–2016, forest elephant populations decreased on average by 90%, and savanna elephantpopulations fell on average by 70%. In combination, populations declined by 77% on average.

Three Hurungwe men who captured themselves on camera killing an elephant using traditional weapons and dogs yesterday appeared before Kariba magistrate accused of hunting or removing any animal or part of the animal in a safari area without a permit. Francis Chigomararwa (30), Simeon Kezias (23) and Arthur Murimbika (24) all from Nyamakate area are also facing another charge of killing a buffalo.The accused were unlucky when a video went viral of them killing an elephant after setting their dogs on it before attacking it using spears and axes.

The convicted clearing agents, according to the prosecutors, David Ereh and Mike Osong, was arrested on January, 2021, at Apapa Port, Lagos, for being in possession of 1X20ft Container marked CSLU 2362640, containing 158 sacks of pangolin scales and 57 sacks of elephant ivory, horns and bones.

Poachers have killed at least five elephants in the Sahel state of Chad, stoking fears for the country's surviving animals, an NGO said Tuesday. The elephants were found slaughtered in the Beinamar area, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of the capital N'Djamena, Adam Ahmat Assane, secretary of SOS Elephants, told AFP.

"This award to the ranger team has come despite operating in the face of adversity, with the results of a positive growth population of rhino." "Under the protection of ATS, the rhino population in Save Valley Conservancy has seen a biological growth rate of 7%, this is above the 5% IUCN recommendation for game reserves protecting rhino, and maintained a poaching mortality rate of below 2%, also IUCN recommended," the WCPA statement read.

Three Harare men, including a game ranger and a police officer yesterday appeared before magistrate Babra Mateko charged with illegal possession of 28 kilogrammes of ivory worth $700 000.

African governments have been urged to jointly fight wildlife trafficking by coming up with legislation and policies that curb the vice. Leading international wildlife conservation body, the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) on Tuesday told journalists attending a wildlife reporting training programme in Harare that laws should be crafted to impose stiffer sentences on wildlife poachers and traffickers. The participants were from Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, South Africa, Botswana and Kenya.

Since the first reported pangolin seizure in Nigeria in 2010, the country has seen an explosion in the black market for the world's most trafficked mammal - becoming Africa's hub for the criminal export of pangolin products to East Asia. Use of pangolin scales in traditional Chinese medicines has resulted in Asian species declining dramatically this century.

Two Mbire poachers were yesterday sentenced to a combined 20-year jail term by Guruve magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa over possession of 34,12kg of elephant tusks.

Poaching has been the greatest threat to wildlife and might cause its extinction in different African countries including Zimbabwe, a wildlife expert has said. Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe president Emmanuel Fundira yesterday said, while game meat production can contribute to economic growth in the country, there was need to curb poaching activities. In a survey conducted in eastern Madagascar, it was revealed that 95% of those interviewed said they had eaten at least one protected species.

Three Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) officials are battling for life at a hospital in Harare after they were recently severely assaulted by suspected poachers in Mushumbi, Mashonaland Central province.