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TPO - On November 30, the Customs Sub- Department of Noi Bai International Airport (Hanoi Customs Department) said that the unit had just discovered 2 Vietnamese passengers suspected of transporting rhino horn from abroad. These two passengers traveled on flight number QR984 from Angola via Doha to Vietnam.

The minister said the court enables the swift prosecution for offenses such as wildlife trafficking, illegal logging and pollution, aligning with national and international efforts to safeguard the environment.

Three suspected poachers, who allegedly travelled from Windhoek with the intention of poisoning rhinos at a farm in the Omaheke Region, were arrested by police on Saturday morning. According to the police's weekend crime report, the suspects planned to poach rhinos at Farm Morester in the Trans-Kalahari area by feeding them poisoned fruits. It is alleged that the suspects - aged between 29 and 41 - travelled on a truck from Windhoek to the Tallismanus T-junction, where they disembarked and walked to the farm.

Three conservancies in Namibia and their joint venture partner are trying to fight off a mine thatthreatens wildlife and community welfare because it will ruin tourism.

Three suspected rhino poachers are expected in court after their arrest in northern KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday. Police spokesperson Col Robert Netshiunda said they were arrested in Pongola shortly after midnight as part of Operation Vala Umgodi. "Police collected intelligence about the three suspects who were travelling from Hluhluwe to a game farm in Magudu area where they were reportedly going to poach rhinos. An operation was put in motion and the suspects' vehicle was intercepted on the R66 Road in the Pongola policing precinct," he said.

Rhino poachers are becoming domesticated. Not only do they strike more during full moons, but they even poach during daylight. So says a despondent farmer in the Okahandja district who caught two men red-handed on his farm last Tuesday with rhino horns in their possession. He says in the past three weeks, rhino poachers have raided three locations in the central area, poaching and killing rhinos.

Kimberley - The vigilance of a Springbok SAPS K9 team led to the arrest of three suspects found in possession of rhino horns and protected plants in Springbok on Monday, 11 November 2024. The police received information about an unknown vehicle transporting rhino horns on the R355 road between Springbok and Gamoep. The intelligence was operationalised and a vehicle checkpoint (VCP) was set up on the said road to stop and search all vehicles. The police K9 protected species dog, Ozzy positively responded the luggage in one of the vehicles stopped and searched.

The vigilance of a Springbok SAPS K9 team led to the arrest of three suspects found in possession of rhino horns and protected plants in the Northern Cape town.

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife remains confident in the effectiveness of its rhino dehorning programme, despite the recent loss of 20 dehorned rhinos targeted for their horn stumps in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park (HiP). Since the programme's launch in April, over 1 000 rhinos have been dehorned, resulting in a significant drop in poaching numbers. Initially, Ezemvelo was hesitant to dehorn rhinos due to cost concerns and the sanctuary's unique appeal for tourists seeking to see rhinos with horns.

The Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, in partnership with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and other conservation partners, has launched a rhino ear-notching and transmitter fitting exercise within the Tsavo West Intensive Protection Zone (IPZ). This initiative will involve the ear-notching and transmitter fitting of 20-25 rhinos, enhancing traceability and protection efforts. The exercise employs advanced technology, including LoRaWAN-enabled tracking devices, which enable near real-time monitoring and improved conservation outcomes.

The dehorning project in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozirhino sanctuary in KwaZulu-Natal has suffered asetback, with at least 20 dehorned animals gunneddown for their remnant horn stumps over the pastmonth. E (right) collect blood samples prior to the dehorning of another rhinoin Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve. The dehorning project in the Hluhluwe-iMfolozirhino sanctuary in KwaZulu-Natal has suffered asetback, with at least 20 dehorned animals gunneddown for their remnant horn stumps over the past month. 

Hluhluwe - Dehorning rhinos is the last resort in fighting rhino poaching and saving the under-siege species. That's according to the Chief Executive of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, Sihle Mkhize. Of 499 rhinos poached across the country in 2023, 307 were from Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife has dehorned 1,800 rhinos at the park since April this year in an effort to curb rhino poaching.

For the third time this year, a group of southern white rhinos have made a big move as part of an even bigger initiative that’s giving the future of their species hope! Rhino Rewild plans to move 2000 rhinos to safer locations in the next ten years, and they are well on their way.

Botswana revealed on Monday that it suffered a huge spike in rhino poaching during five years through 2022, translating to about a third of its population of the endangered species. In all, 138 rhinos were slaughtered from 2018 to last year, Tourism minister Philda Kereng told parliament. This compares to two rhinos poached in the preceding five years from 2012 to 2017, according to official figures. Statistics that Kereng presented to parliament showed killings suddenly rose to seven in 2018, before spiking to 30 the following year.

Transparency and regular communication about rhino numbers and rhino poaching are vital to understand the threat to our rhinos and finding the best ways to conserve them. The most recent rhino population numbers for Africa to the end of 2021, as released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) last year, showed that white rhino numbers had continued to decline at around 3.1% per year and numbered just below 16 000 animals.

A court in Vietnam on Tuesday sentenced a man to 13 years in prison for trafficking nearly 10 tons of endangered animal parts from Africa, including ivory and rhino horns, police said. The court in the central coastal city of Danang found Nguyen Duc Tai, 33, guilty of transporting elephant tusks, ivory, pangolin scales and lion bones from Africa to Vietnam in 2021, the police-run ministry of public security said. Trade in ivory is illegal in Vietnam but wildlife trafficking remains widespread.

Der Save The Rhino Trust (SRT) hat im vergangenen Jahr im Auftrag des Ministeriums für Umwelt, Forstwirtschaft und Tourismus (MEFT) seine Arbeit im Nyae Nyae-Schutzgebiet im Nordosten des Landes aufgenommen. Das Gebiet grenzt an den Khaudum-Nationalpark, in dem das MEFT nun mit Unterstützung des SRT hofft, den Schutz der Spitzmaulnashörner verbessern zu können. Für den SRT ist es eine positive Entwicklung: "Die Anfrage des MEFT, unser Rhino Rangers Programm zu verdoppeln, ist eine Anerkennung für den Erfolg des SRT in der Kunene-Region in den letzten vier Jahrzehnten.

Botswana revealed on Monday that it suffered a huge spike in rhino poaching during five years through 2022, translating to about a third of its population of the endangered species. In all, 138 rhinos were slaughtered from 2018 to last year, Tourism minister Philda Kereng told parliament. This compares to two rhinos poached in the preceding five years from 2012 to 2017, according to official figures. Statistics that Kereng presented to parliament showed killings suddenly rose to seven in 2018, before spiking to 30 the following year.

Maputo, 16 Feb (AIM) - Mozambique's Central Office for the Fight against Organised and Transnational Crime (GCCCOT) has filed charges against two poachers, currently being held in preventive detention. According to a GCCCOT press release, the two men (who were not named) were caught on 27 July last year in possession of four rhinoceros horns with an estimated value on the black market of 243,600 US dollars.

A group of private game farmers, Help our Rhino Now Namibia (HoRN.nam), is offering a reward of N$100 000 for information leading to the arrest of poachers who shot a rhino at a farm near Windhoek. HoRN.nam said in a media statement on Wednesday that rhino poaching has escalated in Namibia over the past 18 months. The organisation says this poses a real and critical threat to the well-being and future survival of Namibian rhino populations.

A 33-year-old man has been jailed for five years after being caught transporting rhino horns to Johannesburg on June 22 last year.

Zimbabweans have been implicated as chief architects of a recent spike in rhino poaching in South Africa. The South African Department of Correctional Services identified the Zimbabwean poachers as Nhamo Muyambo, Francis Chitho, Trymore Chauke, Lubuyo September, Abraham Moyane, Simba Masinge and Bennet Kwamle. International Rhino Foundation (IRF) communications director Christopher Whitlatch said: "Zimbabwean rhino poachers have been involved in major illegal activities in South Africa.

The parks and reserves in Pretoria did not lose a single rhino in 2022, said Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Barbara Creecy.

Two hundred kilogrammes of shark fin were seized at Maputo International Airport two weeks ago, but the case is still under investigation and the Director general of Mozambique’s National Administration for Conservation Areas (ANAC), Celmira da Silva said he could not provide further details on the subject. Integrity Magazine tried to question who owned the cargo as well as its origin and final destination, but without success.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) says the transnational organised crime networks targeting large conservation areas across Southern Africa remain a serious concern. The WWF was reacting to the 2022 rhino poaching statistics which saw a 40% decline compared to 2021 in the Kruger Park and other national parks across the country.

A total of 87 rhinos were poached last year, of which 45 were killed in the Etosha National Park. This is according to new statistics released by the environment and tourism ministry, which show that last year, 61 black rhinos and 26 white rhinos were killed. In 2022, poaching cases included 15 rhinos poached on custodianship farms and another 25 white rhinos on private farms. Namibia recorded 45 rhinos poached in 2021, 43 in 2020, 61 in 2019, 84 in 2018 and 55 in 2017. So far this year, one rhino has been poached. Meanwhile, four elephants were killed last year.

Mpumalanga provincial head of the Hawks, Major General Nico Gerber has welcomed the arrest of the 14th accused person, 24-year-old Nkateko Maluleke who was wanted in a case of money laundering, where field rangers allegedly provided tactical information to rhino poachers in the Kruger National Park.

A total of 87 rhinos were poached last year, of which 45 were killed in the Etosha National Park. This is according to new statistics released by the environment and tourism ministry, which show that last year, 61 black rhinos and 26 white rhinos were killed. In 2022, poaching cases included 15 rhinos poached on custodianship farms and another 25 white rhinos on private farms. Namibia recorded 45 rhinos poached in 2021, 43 in 2020, 61 in 2019, 84 in 2018 and 55 in 2017. So far this year, one rhino has been poached. Meanwhile, four elephants were killed last year.

Relentless pressure forces rhino poachers to abandon national parks in 2022, says Creecy South Africa's relentless fight against rhino poaching in the Kruger Park and other national parks saw a decline in poaching numbers across the country. In 2022, 124 rhino were killed in the Kruger National Park.

The Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife conservation agency has, up till now, opted to not dehorn its rhinos to protect them from poachers. But that could change soon, following another year of relentless killings in which the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park emerged as the current rhino poaching hotspot, globally. The latest poaching figures released by national Environment Minister Barbara Creecy show that 244 rhinos were killed by horn poachers in KwaZulu-Natal in 2022 - the vast majority of them in the HIP.

The bad news is that poaching shifted to KwaZulu-Natal, where 244 animals were killed last year - 228 of them in provincial parks and 16 on private reserves. "The steady decline in rhino poaching in national parks is related to the relentless war that has been waged by our anti-poaching machinery, as well as a comprehensive dehorning programme," said Creecy. While the brave men and women in the front line in our anti-poaching units put their lives on the line to tackle the poachers, little is being done, seemingly, to bring the kingpins to book.

A 47-year-old accused will appear in the Kabokweni Magistrate Court on Tuesday, 7 February 2023, after his DNA was linked to rhino horns found during a search and seizure operation.

Botswana's government has presented to the ongoing CITES CoP-19 in Panama a detailed document on the country's efforts to contain rhino poaching which increased at least 100 fold between 2018 and 2020. The country recorded two rhino poaching incidents in the five years between 2012 and 2017 with zero incidents reported in 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2017.

The Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DFFE) has reported that relentless pressure has forced rhino poachers to abandon parks in 2022.

The police in the Eastern Cape are searching for poachers who shot, killed, and dehorned two rhinos on a safari farm in Paterson on Wednesday evening, 1 February.

Two rhinos were brutally shot and killed on a safari farm in Paterson late in the evening on Wednesday, earlier this week in the Sarah Baartman District. The poachers had managed to find a way into the farm before stalking, shooting and killing the adult rhinos, thereafter de-horning both of them. A police report told that the two rhinos, one male and the other female, were last spotted during an afternoon game drive. They were only found dead by game rangers the following afternoon while more tourists came through on another game drive.

Two rhinos that survived a poaching attack at Schotia Safaris Private Game Reserve, near Nanaga, nearly 10 years ago were killed by poachers on Thursday. After disabling the pair of male and female white rhinos in the attack, the poachers hacked off their horns with pangas before making their escape.

Rhinos may look formidable, but their species have declined due to continuous poaching in Nambia and South Africa. Rhinos, mainly the black rhinos, have dealt with population declines due to threats of illegal trade, poaching, habitat loss and infrastructure development. The population of rhinos is critically endangered. Without immediate actions and protection efforts, it would lead to sudden extinction. The economic and political issues in places where Rhinos thrive make it more difficult for conservation efforts.

A Mozambican man, convicted for poaching, will spend the next 18 years in prison. Santos Baloyi, 31, was arrested after a rhino was killed at Kruger National Park in September. He was also convicted on charges of trespassing, contravention of the Immigration Act, possession of a dangerous weapon.