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A middle aged woman will serve a 12 years jail term after a Kabarnet court found her guilty of trading in wildlife trophies. Esther Chebii, appeared before Senior Resident Magistrate (SRM) Edwin Mulochi for the offence which occurred on May 27, 2023 at around 6pm at Kabarnet town in Baringo central sub-county, where she was nabbed with five pieces of elephant tusks weighing 15.7 kilograms and 105 pieces of pangolin scales weighing two kilograms with a street value of Sh 2.37 million.

Police have arrested a suspected poacher for allegedly poisoning over 100 elephants using cyanide at Hwange National Park. Tony Maphosa, who has been on the run since 2013, allegedly poisoned water points and salt pans with cyanide resulting in the death of more than 100 elephants. Maphosa was arrested in the national park on Wednesday following a tip off. An anti-poaching team comprising rangers from Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority and police recovered two pieces of ivory from him. Zimparks spokesperson Mr Tinashe Farawo confirmed the arrest.

The Ministry of Environment and Tourism has launched a community reward fund to encourage the reporting of poaching activities to help curb wildlife crimes in the Zambezi region. Namibia has lost over 631 rhinos to poaching over the last 10 years and just over 220 elephants, although the number of poached elephants has significantly declined in recent years. Saisai says compensation varies according to species, adding that if a community member provides a tip on a buffalo being poached, they would be paid N$1 000.

A recent report from the Wildlife Justice Commission analyzed trends in ivory and pangolin scales trafficking from Africa over the past decade using seizure data and found that the COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted the illegal trade, with fewer significant seizures reported post-pandemic. The report attributes this dip to pandemic-induced lockdowns, increased law enforcement and intelligence gathering, successful prosecutions, and declines in the prices of ivory and pangolin scales.

Botswana's Department of Wildlife and National Parks (DWNP) recently conducted intensive practical training for 74 staff members to enhance and strengthen law enforcement capacity through the use of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)’s Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) programme tools. The training was organised as a three-day workshop for three cohorts of rangers from the greater Chobe National Park, including its sub-stations.

More than 1,000 starving elephants may have to be culled. Parliamentarians demand answers by tomorrow (Friday). In a scathing parliamentary session on Tuesday, 10 June members of the Portfolio Committee on Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment accused North West officials of gross mismanagement and evasion of responsibility for the ongoing elephant crisis in the Madikwe Game Reserve. The crisis, years in the making, has led to mass starvation and death among elephants, extensive environmental degradation and a controversial proposal to cull as many as 1,200 of them.

Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) has given the Save Valley Conservancy the green light to cull 50 elephants to curb overpopulation. The growing elephant population is fast exceeding the carrying capacity of Zimbabwe's national parks. ZimParks spokesperson Tinashe Farawo confirmed the development in a statement on Tuesday, noting that permits have been issued to Save Valley Conservancy for an elephant management exercise.

The report, produced under a Service Contract with the European Commission, provides an in-depth analysis of illegal wildlife trade trends based on seizures reported by EU Member States to Europe Trade in Wildlife Information eXchange (EU-TWIX) system. The illegal trade in wild species is a critical threat to biodiversity; valued at a staggering $23bn each year, it devastates ecosystems and fuels crime.

Private rhino owners are taking extraordinary steps to protect their animals following an increase in poaching incidents, including the brutal killing of a rhino cow in the Hardap region earlier this month.  The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) has confirmed that 15 rhinos and one elephant have been poached across the country so far this year.  In response to growing concerns, a private rhino owner has offered a N$160 000 reward for information leading to the arrest and successful prosecution of those behind the Hardap incident.

In a significant operation against wildlife crime, the Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha Police apprehended one individual in Boudh district and recovered two elephant tusks valued at approximately Rs 50 lakh in the illegal market. Reports stated that acting on intelligence input, an STF team led by DSP Rashmiranjan Pattnaik and Inspector Jitu Mohan Bassera intercepted the accused, Pramod Parida, near Telibandha Chhak in Boudh, at around 7 PM on Sunday.

Namibia intends to "cull" 21 elephants in the dry north-west of the country where a small population of desert elephants roam In a statement issued on Monday, the Namibian Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) said they plan to cull 723 wild animals, including 83 elephants, across the country and to distribute the meat to local people as a drought relief program. The so-called cull will take place in national parks and communal areas where authorities believe animal numbers exceed available grazing land and water supplies amid the ongoing drought.

A joint ambush conducted by Kenya's Wildlife Service and members of the DCI Serious Crime Unit has resulted in the arrest of 57-year-old Sila Waweu in Kiambu county. Waweu, who was accompanied by three others, was caught in Kenya's southern Kibwezi area with a bag containing 185 pounds of elephant tusks worth an estimated $65,000, while his accomplices managed to evade arrest.

Oshikoto police regional commander Commissioner Teopolina Kalompo-Nashikaku has issued a stern warning to poachers, saying they risk their lives by engaging with armed anti-poaching units. Without mincing her words, she warned that the authorities are committed to protecting the country's fauna and flora and said poachers risk their own lives if they shoot at security personnel deployed to safeguard wildlife species.

There has been a dramatic increase in elephant poaching in northern Botswana, with little official concern about reports of the poaching. An aerial survey in July revealed 19 poached carcasses, bringing the total to 105 since October2023. Mary Rice, Executive Director of the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), warns that "the increasingnumber of elephant poaching incidents being documented inBotswana should be of real concern to the widerconservation community".

The federal government has unveiled the sculpture of an elephant crafted from crushed elephant tusks and ivory stockpiles. Speaking during the unveiling the minister of state for Environment , Dr. Iziaq Salako stated that the event was a signal of Nigeria’s zero tolerance for wild like trafficking. The minister stated that on January 9, 2024, Nigeria took a giant step by publicly destroying 2.5 tonnes of confiscated elephant tusks and ivory.