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Otjiwarongo - A carcass of a female black rhino was discovered with a bullet wound in the stomach, on 18 August 2023 at a waterhole inside a game farm in the Grootfontein district of the Otjozondjupa region.

A case of hunting of specially protected game without a permit is being investigated by the police in Otjozondjupa after a carcass of a female black Rhinoceros was found at a water hole.

The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) plays a vital role in countering organised wildlife crime in Namibia. With a renewed spike in rhino poaching in 2022, the FIC's role underlines the extent to which rhino poaching is driven by organised criminal gangs and the extensive criminal networks that facilitate horn trafficking. This is according to the National Namibia Wildlife Protection Report for 2022, which found that poaching and trafficking of live plants also appear to be coordinated via well-organised online platforms…

"On August 1, South Africa's Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment released an update that rhinoceros (rhino) poaching dropped 11% in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period of the previous year. Between 1 January and 30 June 2023, poaching trends also continued to show a move away from the Kruger National Park to provincial and private reserves," the report stated.

A man was arrested in the East Rand after being found in possession of a rhino horn worth an estimated R170,000. The Hawks, working in collaboration with the Benoni K9 Unit, stopped a suspicious Toyota Etios during a routine patrol along the R21 highway near Atlas Road. Upon searching the vehicle, officers discovered a 1.6-kilogram rhino horn concealed in a yellow plastic bag under the driver's seat. The driver, identified as 47-year-old Hlulani Baloyi, was arrested on the spot and subsequently appeared in the…

Durban - The IFP in KwaZulu-Natal said it was concerned about the rhino poaching incidents taking place in KZN and the Kruger National Park.

The head of the North West Parks and Tourism Board has told Parliament that the thieves who stole 51 rhino horns from its guarded facility in June must have had intimate knowledge of its security system.

Fifteen years after South Africa was hit by an unprecedented wave of rhino-horn poaching, the slaughter rate remains relentless - with one rhino shot almost every day in KwaZulu-Natal, the historic heartland of global rhino conservation. More than 60% of the rhinos killed in South Africa so far in 2023 drew their last breaths in KwaZulu-Natal as poachers continue to shift more of their deadly firepower and axes to the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, one of the world’s last strongholds of wild rhino conservation. Latest poaching …

Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy briefs media regarding the Rhino situation in the parks of South Africa at SANPARKS head office in Pretori, 1 August 2023. The government said on Tuesday its world-famous Kruger park had witnessed a steady decline in rhino killings as better patrols and the onslaught it suffered in recent years pushed poachers elsewhere. The government said 42 of the park's rhinos were killed for their horns from January to June this year, almost half the numbers poached in…

The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment says 231 rhinos have been killed thus far this year in South Africa. This figure is from 1 January to 30 June 2023.

The National Assembly yesterday approved an amendment to the Nature Conservation Ordinance to increase fines related to elephant and rhino poaching from the current N$200 000 to a maximum of N$25 million. The period of imprisonment for convicted rhino or elephant poachers would be increased to a maximum of 25 years, up from 20 years.

The Ministry of Environment and Tourism yesterday tabled a bill for an amendment to the Nature Conservation Ordinance to increase fines related to rhino and elephant poaching from the current N$200 000 maximum penalty to a maximum penalty of N$25 million.

Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR) has thrown its weight behind efforts to fight rhino poaching in the country, particularly inside the Etosha National Park.

The Chinese national who smuggled 18 rhino horns through Hosea Kutako International Airport and was arrested in South Africa, had received the rhino horns in Windhoek. Ye Zhiwei, 28, who pleaded guilty to charges of importing the rhino horns without the necessary permits in the Kempton Park Regional Court in
South Africa, said in his plea explanation that he had received 15 black rhino horns and three white rhino horns at a hotel in Windhoek.

Disturbing revelations pertaining to the plunder of our natural resources have come to the fore, not for the first time either, but it is the trend that is beginning to ruffle the sustainable feathers of our flora and fauna. Concerted efforts are being made in order to win the battle against the poaching of our endangered rhino and elephants as sophisticated poaching syndicates seem to have taken advantage of the loopholes and weaknesses in the anti-poaching strategies currently in place.

The highest office in the country has joined the outcry against the spate of poaching and plundering of wildlife resources currently experienced in the country. President Hage Geingob, during the opening of the 2017 legal year, called upon parliament to send him the necessary amendments to the relevant laws to increase penalties so that he can sign them into law for the courts to enforce them.

Foreigners who are found guilty of wildlife crimes should serve out their sentences, be deported and should not be allowed back in Namibia. This is the view of environment minister Pohamba Shifeta, who says the Nature Conservation Ordinance Act is outdated and far too lenient in its sentencing of poachers. According to Shifeta, the ministry is in the process of amending the Act and proposed fines for poaching will range from N$100 000 to N$25 million.

A young rhino cow that was shot multiple times by poachers at a farm near Gobabis in December, has died of her wounds.

Namibia has so far dehorned 451 black rhinos at a cost of over N$14,5 million in an effort to discourage poaching in the country. Government has been dehorning rhinos since 2014. The Ministry of Environment and Tourism makes use of experts contracted to dehorn black rhinos in the country's national game parks, including Etosha, Namib-Naukluft, Mamili, and the Waterberg Plateau Park.