Search results

Windhoek, March 04-Namibia boasts a healthy population of wildlife species, and its conservation efforts are held in high regard globally. However, recent poaching statistics reveal a troubling trend, with the country losing a total of 631 rhinos over the past decade. According to Romeo Muyunda, spokesperson for the Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism, Namibia recorded 97 rhino poachings in 2015, 66 in 2016, 55 in 2017, 84 in 2018, 61 in 2019, 48 in 2020, 53 in 2021, 92 in 2022, 67 in 2023, and 8 in 2024 to date.

The Ministry of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism has sounded the alarm on the rapid decline of wildlife habitats due to deforestation and industrial emissions, exacerbating the impacts of climate change and hindering efforts to sustainably manage natural resources. In a statement released over the weekend to mark World Wildlife Day, Romeo Muyunda, spokesperson for the ministry, highlighted the urgent need to confront the challenges confronting local wildlife.

Namibia's Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism said Saturday that rapid deforestation and industrial emissions in the country are causing habitat loss for rare and endangered wildlife, exacerbating climate change impacts such as droughts and floods, and hindering efforts to sustainably manage natural resources for future generations. In a statement commemorating World Wildlife Day, Romeo Muyunda, the ministry's spokesperson, underscored the critical need to address the challenges facing Namibia's wildlife.

An intelligence driven operation has landed three suspects in jail after they were found with six rhino horns.
The operation comprising of the Serious Organised Crime Investigation, Detectives, Crime Intelligence, Tactical Response Team, Tracking Team and the Local Criminal Record Centre ensued after it emerged that three were allegedly dealing in rhino horns.

Ryan Tate is supposed to be in South Africa right now helping to fight off poachers who hack horns off rhinos and kill elephants for their ivory tusks. But since the country announced a national lockdown in March to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Tate is stuck in the U.S. He can't join his team out in South Africa's wilderness and can't meet with private donors in the U.S. for his anti-poaching nonprofit organization, which is seeing donations dry up.

Five of the suspects were arrested for rhino poaching and/or trafficking cases, while two wildlife products, five firearms and 63 rounds of ammunition were seized during operations.

The effects of poaching and climate change are keenly felt In Zambia and Zimbabwe. This ecological
frontline is manned by innovative, but under-funded conservation units, with tourism supporting the survival
of some of Africa’s rarest species.

A group of four men entered a farm in the Severn area and were caught red-handed trying to poach rhinos for their horns by members of the Kuruman Stock Theft unit. The Tswalu Anti- Poaching unit provided aerial and ground support to the South African Police Service (SAPS) and managed to apprehend the suspects. One of the suspects was killed during the gun-fight, with two others injured. A fourth man was arrested, with a weapons stock confiscated.

North-West, Namibia, April 2020/  - In an ongoing partnership with Save the Rhino Trust Namibia (SRT) and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET), Wilderness Safaris is proud to report the success of their most recent entirely airborne anti-poaching operation, forming part of a campaign launched last year. Involving two helicopters and a fixed-wing aircraft, the aim of the campaign is to monitor, dehorn and protect black rhino in north-west Namibia.

For the second week, statistics indicate that only one wildlife crime has been recorded per week. The tightening of anti-poaching security measures during the coronavirus state of emergency is paying off, with only one new wildlife crime case registered last week, while two suspects were arrested.

A suspected poacher was killed while his accomplice escaped following a shootout with game rangers on Wednesday at Bubye Valley Conservancy, some 60km west of Beitbridge town. The two men allegedly killed a male lion, before rangers caught up with them while in the process of killing a black rhinoceros.

Die ministeries van die omgewing, bosbou en toerisme en veiligheid en sekuriteit het verlede week hul wildmisdaadverslag van 2019 uitgereik. Verlede jaar is 45 renosters gestroop teenoor 74 in 2018. In 2019 is ook meer verdagtes (112) in verband met renosterverwante misdaad as in 2018 (84) in hegtenis geneem. Die verslag is deur die Blue Rhino-taakspan onder leiding van komm. Barry de Klerk saamgestel. Operasie Blue Rhino is in Julie 2018 van stapel gestuur.

Arrests for wildlife crime involving high-value species like elephants, rhinos and pangolins, increased by 36% in 2019 compared to the year before.

A man was promised 20,000 South African rand (about S$2,000) to unlawfully transport 11 pieces of rhinoceros horns from Johannesburg to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, a district court heard on Wednesday (April 8).

Twee vas met ammunisie. Nege renosters is tot dusver vanjaar gestroop en een olifant is vir sy ivoor afgemaai. Volgens die woordvoerder van die ministerie van die omgewing, bosbou en toerisme, mnr. Romeo Muyunda, is die meerderheid van dié renosters op private plase gestroop. Twee Namibiese mans wat na ­bewering 'n renoster probeer stroop het, is voorverlede Woensdag in hegtenis geneem.

Botswana has seen an unprecedented rise in rhinoceros poaching in the last 12 months. The government reports nearly 50 of the animals have been killed in the last 10 months, about one-tenth of the country’s rhino population. Officials say at this rate, the black rhino population, which numbers just a few dozen, could be wiped out by the end of next year.

During last year, an estimated 12 elephants and 45 rhinos were poached during 2019, the ministry of environment and tourism’s wildlife crime report of 2019 shows. The ministry seized 116 elephant tusks and 8 rhino horns during the year, however, the reported notes that the number of elephant tusks seized does not relate directly to the number of elephants killed in Namibia, as some tusks may originate from elephants killed in neighbouring countries. The year under review saw wildlife crime cases registered (high-value species only) at 174 with 92 cases related to…

Wildlife crime has become one of the central conservation challenges in Namibia, with a total of 174 wildlife species poached in the country last year alone. This number signifies an increase, as 115 were poached in 2018.

A Chinese national was granted bail last week in a poaching case involving two rhino horns.

The ministry of environment says its anti-poaching activities will not be hindered by the rapidly spreading coronavirus, which has forced many countries, Namibia included, into a lockdown.