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Police arrest six suspected rhino poachers in Limpopo and Gauteng; recover horns, guns and ammunition.

It's not rocket science. Harsher sentences - both locally and abroad - need to be dished out to those who poach rhinos for their horns, or smuggle those horns to other countries. The South African government reported 448 rhinos were killed across the country in 2022 - just three fewer than the previous year. It's welcoming to hear a Singapore court on Friday sentenced Gumede Sthembiso Joel, a 33- year-old South African man, to two years in jail for smuggling rhino horns. It was the heaviest sentence handed down by the city state for trafcking wildlife parts.

Two men are expected to appear in the Vryheid magistrate's court after they were arrested with two rhino horns and a rie hidden in their car's engine compartment. KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Lt-Col Nqobile Gwala said ofcers acted on information about the suspects and spotted their vehicle on the R34 travelling towards Vryheid and a high-speed chase ensued.

Dit gaan baie goed met Venasha, die renosterkalfie wat in Oktober 2022 by die Rhino Momma-projek aangekom het, nadat sy deur haar ma verwerp is. Volgens Juliette Erdtsieck, haar versorger van die afgelope 19 maande, bly Venasha onder meer saam met drie renosterkoeie en hul kalwers in 'n kamp. "Sy word nou regtig baie groot en is 'n regte renoster! Sy het op 26 November haar laaste bottel melk gekry en aan die einde van die jaar is sy na die groot kamp verskuif," sê Juliette. Die Rhino Momma-projek in Namibië het in 2022 in een maand twee wees-renosterkalfies gekry.

The new Minister of Environment and Tourism says he will prioritise anti-poaching initiatives, including extra security measures at the Etosha National Park, which has seen four cases of rhino poaching recently. In the latest poaching incident, the carcass of a young rhino bull was discovered at the Dolomite waterhole in Etosha this past Friday. The rhino’s horns were still intact and it had been shot three times. Police are still investigating the case and there are currently no suspects.

A parliamentary standing committee has urged the ministries of Justice and Home Affairs to initiate an extradition agreement with the government of Angola to combat cross-border wildlife crimes effectively. Poaching has become a serious problem in Namibia, particularly in the Kunene Region, where poachers appear to operate with impunity. The Kunene Region borders southern Angola. So far this year, 14 rhino carcasses and 33 elephant carcasses have been found in Namibia.