This archive of published media articles about wildlife crime in Namibia aims to:
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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Two men have been arrested for trying to sell elephant tusks worth R200,000 in Limpopo. The suspects, brothers Peter and Phanuel Mokgalaka, were caught during a police sting in Selwane Village outside Phalaborwa on Wednesday. The operation was led by the Hawks in Limpopo, with help from the Sani Sand Nature Reserve and the Kruger National Park's Environmental Crime Investigation unit. Police got a tip-off that the men were selling ivory. Officers contacted them and pretended to be buyers. The brothers agreed to meet the supposed buyers in Selwane.
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SA_2025_07_South Africa_Brothers caught with elephant tusks worth R200_000_All Africa.pdf | 67.05 KB |
A male elephant has been killed by poachers in Hwange National Park, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) has said. The carcass was discovered in the Main Camp area of the park with one tusk missing and flesh removed from its leg. ZimParks spokesperson Mr Tinashe Farawo said the jumbo might have been dead for about two days at the time of discovery. He said a distinctive shoe spoor was found at the scene, and a joint investigation with the Zimbabwe Republic Police is now underway.
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ZIM_2025_07_Elephant killed in Hwange National Park_Herald Online.pdf | 87.16 KB |
The leaders of a prolific Chinese wildlife trafficking gang have been pardoned in Malawi, sparking concern that renewed poaching will help spread diseases including coronaviruses. Lin Yunhua and his wife Qin Hua Zhang, who led the notorious Lin-Zhang syndicate that operated across southern Africa, were among 15 people sentenced to jail as part of a major crackdown on ivory trafficking.
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MAL_2025_07_Notorious poaching gang leaders pardoned in Malawi_The Telegraph.pdf | 235.07 KB |
In the wild heart of Africa there is a dwindling group of savannah elephants so traumatised by decades of war, poaching and conflict with humans, that when they see a helicopter, they don't run away, they charge. While the choppers are a means of providing vital conservation measures, such as collaring programmes to monitor under-threat animals for their own protection, these majestic animals have learned to defend themselves in an area so wracked with human conflict it’s been dubbed the "Triangle of Death".
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AFR_2025_07_Desperate bid to save elephants from extinction in Africas triangle of death_Express.pdf | 180.1 KB |
Police in Mangochi have arrested a 50-year old man for possession of nine pieces of ivory.
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MAL_2022_07_Man nabbed for possessing Ivory_Malawi24.pdf | 408.87 KB |
"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.
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ZIM_2022_07_Zim anti_poaching unit receives award_NewsDay.pdf | 481.69 KB |
The Nigeria Customs Services (NCS) yesterday brought seven men before the Federal High Court in Lagos for alleged illegal possession dealing, assembling, storing, smuggling and trading in pangolin skin and elephant's ivory.
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NIG_2022_07_Three Foreigners Arraigned Over Pangolin_Tusk Smuggling_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 120.91 KB |
Kigali: For many years, East African countries were considered wildlife trafficking hotspots. Now conservation organisations have started to mobilise all stakeholders to combat the illegal trade that targets animals – some to the edge of extinction.
Two men have been arrested in Bulawayo after they were found in possession of 20,5 kilogrammes of elephant tusks.
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ZIM_2022_07_Zimbabwean_foreigner nabbed over elephant tusks_The Sunday Mail.pdf | 223.64 KB |
Facts before court were that on 1 April 2022 the duo whilst acting together possessed a prescribed trophy namely elephant ivory weighing 25 KG and valued at K 90,467 without a certificate of ownership issued by the Director General the Zambia Wildlife Authority.
In einer weiteren gemeinsamen Operation von Beamten des Umweltministeriums, Spezialkräften und der Abteilung für geschützte Ressourcen der namibischen Polizei, wurde ein Verdächtiger in der Sambesi-Region festgenommen, nachdem er im Besitz von drei Elefantenstoßzähnen angetroffen wurde. Er bot die Stoßzähne einem verdeckten Ermittler zum Verkauf an. Der 33 Jahre alte Verdächtige wurde am 14. Juli in Katima Mulilo verhaftet. Die drei Elefantenstoßzähne waren laut des Berichts des Umweltministeriums in 13 Stücke geschnitten.
A special court established in Uganda, called the Standards, Utilities and Wildlife Court, was "critical to the country's economic development", then Chief Justice Bart Katureebe noted at its launch in 2017. "Access to justice in this area has the capacity to promote investment in critical areas of the economy, protection of the environment, public health and ethical trade practices," he said. Between July 2020 and June 2021, the court handled 468 wildlife crime cases.
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UGA_2022_07_Ugandas special court clamps down on wildlife crime_Oxpeckers.pdf | 1021.64 KB |