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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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Displaying results 1 - 12 of 12
Friday, 16 December 2022
Salaton A 2022. Kenya: State puts Mara poachers on notice.

The government has put poachers at the Maasai Mara game reserve on notice after it emerged that five elephants and three giraffes were killed under mysterious circumstances over the past two months. Narok County Commissioner Isaac Masinde while addressing the Jamhuri day celebrations at Oldekesi Secondary School in Narok West Sub County said the three giraffes had their reproductive organs chopped off raising suspicion over the intention of the poachers.

Wednesday, 14 December 2022
2022. Wildlife trafficker sentenced to 57 months for large-scale trafficking of rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Amara Cherif, a/k/a "Bamba Issiaka," a citizen of Guinea, was sentenced to 57 months for conspiring to traffic in millions of dollars in rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory, both endangered wildlife species, which involved the illegal poaching of more than approximately 35 rhinoceros and more than 100 elephants. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods.

Saturday, 3 December 2022
Fukiady T 2022. Illegal hunting in Quiçama is spurred on by traffickers with financial power.

Quiçama Park administrator denounces that individuals with money have "encouraged" poachers. Lack of personnel and transport cited as a reason for poor enforcement. Park has just over 100 staff, but needs at least 600. In 2021, the Government presented a project to stop poaching in the country.

Friday, 2 December 2022
Mkwanda N 2022. Malawi: Zambian national gets 15 years prison sentence in MK53 million wildlife crime.

Senior Resident Magistrate Wanangwa Nyirenda on Thursday, December 1st 2022, sentenced Zambian national Kelby Roy Malambo to 15 years imprisonment with hard labour for the three charges he faced in the MK53m wildlife crime case involving elephant ivory.

Thursday, 1 December 2022
Naidoo D 2022. Suspected poacher nabbed with two elephant tusks.

A 39-year-old man is expected to appear before the Calcutta Magistrate's Court in Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, today after he was arrested by the Nelspruit Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation, the White River K9 Unit and Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Authority.

Thursday, 1 December 2022
Smit E 2022. Stropery - 106 die jaar gearresteer.

Altesaam 106 verdagtes is vanjaar vir stropery in hegtenis geneem. Intussen maak rolspelers gereed om wildbeskerming en wetstoepassingspogings teen wildmisdaad in Namibië hierdie feesseisoen op te skerp. Van hierdie 106 is 44 vir renosterstropery en 62 verdagtes vir olifantstropery in hegtenis geneem. Die ministerie van die omgewing, bosbou en toerisme se woordvoerder, mnr. Romeo Muyunda, het gesê wat ontstellend is, is dat 93 van dié verdagtes Namibiërs is - 'n groep wat volgens die ministerie die voortou in die stryd teen stropery behoort te neem.

Monday, 19 October 2020
Ledger E 2020. Stop The Illegal Wildlife Trade: The detection dogs sniffing out wildlife crime (Malawi).

Until an illegal wildlife trade report was published in May 2015, Malawi's role in one of the world's largest transnational organised crimes was largely unknown. The landlocked southeast African nation - bordered by countries with large wildlife populations - was revealed to be a major trafficking hub for ivory, pangolin scales, rhino horn and other illegal wildlife commodities. Malawi's weak identification and enforcement systems were being systematically exploited by criminals to export their products to China, Vietnam and other demand countries. In response…

Monday, 19 October 2020
Nkwame M 2020. Anti-poaching squad ropes in 27 suspects.

Patrol groups of the paramilitary National Anti-Poaching Squad have arrested 27 people on suspicions of being involved in a series of poaching incidents in the past 10 months in the Moyowosi and Uvinza game reserves of Kigoma region.

Sunday, 18 October 2020
2020. Elephants: 'My mission to stop poachers in Zimbabwe'.

"We've gone 12 months without an elephant being shot and killed by poachers at Mana Pools National Park, which is a huge result." For Nick Murray, a conservationist born in Pontypridd, this result has followed years of hard work. Nick now runs a conservation project with his wife Desiree covering the Lower Zambezi Valley of Zimbabwe, an area of 10,000 sq km (3,800 sq miles).

Tuesday, 13 October 2020
Smit E 2020. 363 arrested for wildlife crimes in 2019.

Pangolins are the most poached and trafficked animal species in Namibia, crime statistics show. A total of 174 wildlife crime cases involving high-value species were registered last year and more than 360 suspects were arrested. According to the 2019/2020 annual progress report of the environment ministry, 92 of these cases related to pangolin, 54 related to elephants, 32 related to rhinos and 17 to conspiracy to poach rhinos.

Saturday, 3 October 2020
2020. Wilderness Safaris supports Scorpion Anti-Poaching Unit in Hwangwe.

Despite COVID-19 bringing global travel to a standstill, Wilderness Safaris has rearmed its dedication to conserving and restoring Africa’s wilderness by continuing to support vital conservation projects in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. This included a recent donation from Wilderness Safaris' Sustainability Fund to support the operating costs of the Scorpion Anti-Poaching Unit (SAPU) until end December 2020.

Thursday, 1 October 2020
Smit E 2020. Six arrested for wildlife crimes.

Six suspects have been arrested in connection with wildlife crimes and two new cases were registered last week. Three of the suspects were arrested for elephant poaching and one suspect was arrested for rhino poaching. According to information provided by the intelligence and investigation unit in the environment ministry and the protected resources unit in the safety and security ministry, three illegal wildlife products were confiscated. At Mukwe in the Kavango East Region, three Namibians were arrested on 22 September for being in possession of two elephant tusks.

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