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Another rhino was sadly killed at a private game reserve in the Pongola area on Thursday evening. The rhino bull was found dead, but this time around, the horns were still intact. Police suspect that the poachers may have only wounded the animal and it ran away to die somewhere else. Rangers found the rhino on Friday morning and contacted the police. Last week was full moon, oddly enough known as 'Poacher’s Moon'. There is also a known link between rhino poaching and the full moon, which is that anti-poaching teams actively monitor on these nights.

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.

While Namibia and other southern African countries are struggling to protect their rhinos from poaching, scientists are looking for solutions to make the rhino financially unattractive to poachers. According to a new research report published in Science magazine on June 5, dehorning is currently the most effective solution to prevent poaching. The team of scientists led by Kuiper, Haussmann and Whitfield found that dehorning rhinos leads to a drastic reduction in poaching compared to other measures.

Seventy southern white rhinos have completed a journey of more than 3,400 kilometres (at least 2,112 miles) by truck and Boeing 747 from South Africa to Rwanda in what has been described as the largest translocation of its kind. Part of a rewilding initiative, the rhinos were transported in two groups of 35 - first by airliner then by road - from South Africa's Munywana Conservancy to the Akagera National Park in Rwanda, central Africa's largest protected wetland, the Rwanda Development Board (RDB) said on Tuesday.

By the 1950s, Nile crocodiles in Zimbabwe were nearly extinct. Commercial hunters had killed most of them for their valuable skins. The crocodiles were easy targets because they lived in predictable locations, hunters could spot them easily at night with spotlights, and each kill was worth a lot of money. Instead of banning all crocodile hunting, wildlife authorities did something unexpected: they allowed people to start commercial crocodile farms. Why did this work? Three reasons: Undercut the black market: Legal farms could supply skins, reducing demand for poached ones.

South Africa's pervasive 'rhino war' rhetoric distracts us from addressing the root causes of poaching. We urgently need alternative conservation philosophies, practices and policies to tackle wildlife crime. In January 2025, conservationists were honoured to have you, Mr Dion George, Minister of the Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, at a two-week conservation management course in the Greater Kruger area.

We shouldn't have to dehorn rhinos to keep them safe. The ideal is to let rhinos live as they should - horns and all. That's the message from a Nelson Mandela University scientist who led a landmark seven-year study showing that while dehorning can significantly reduce poaching, it's not a long-term solution. To truly protect rhinos, he says, we must dismantle the criminal syndicates.

The Skukuza regional court on Thursday sentenced Philip Mfana Masuku to 14 years' direct imprisonment for poaching-related offences committed six years ago. Masuku, 62, from Bhekiswayo Trust in Kabokweni, was earlier convicted for trespassing, killing two rhinos, conspiracy to commit an offence and possession of a dangerous weapon.

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.

The trial is set to begin this September, close to three years after the 50 pieces of horns were seized not far from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The men sprung a surprise in court today when they opted for a trial. It was a reversal of the guilty plea they had recorded at an earlier court appearance last month. Media and conservation groups gathered at court on Wednesday (24 April) had expected a penalty to be given to the two men.

The Special Wildlife Office of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has intercepted a 40-foot container of illegal wildlife products in Vietnam. Three suspects were also arrested in connection with the crime, barely six weeks after a similar seizure by Vietnam authorities. The Nigeria Customs Service, in a statement made available to newsmen, and signed by Asst. Comptroller Abimbola Isafiade, said the operation was conducted by the combined efforts of the officers of the Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone C, in a joint enforcement operation with the Wildlife Justice Commission, WJC…

Trotz Bemühungen um Eindämmung des Handels mit bedrohten Tierarten wie Elefanten geht der illegale Handel mit Wildtieren weltweit unvermindert weiter. Dies geht aus dem einem Bericht des Büros der Vereinten Nationen für Drogen- und Verbrechensbekämpfung (UNODC) hervor, der eine Bestandsaufnahme der weltweiten Anti-Wilderei- Maßnahmen enthält.

Despite progress to curtail the trafficking of iconic species such as elephants, illegal wildlife trafficking continues unabated on a global scale. This is according to the 2024 World Wildlife Crime Report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which takes stock of efforts to counter poaching worldwide. The report highlights that wildlife trafficking has not seen a significant enough decrease over the past two decades, prompting a call for enhanced enforcement of existing laws, including measures to combat corruption.

The Nigeria Customs Service Special Wildlife Office, over the weekend, announced the arrest of a Shipper and supplier responsible for the illegal exportation of a 40ft container of illegal Wildlife to Vietnam. It was gathered that the illegal wildlife products were intercepted and reported in Vietnam in April 2024 while the arrest of the suspects was made by the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) and the enforcement officers of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone C, Owerri, Imo state.

Die beskuldigdes wat die afgelope naweek betrokke was by die stropery van ‘n witrenosterbul op 'n plaas in die Gobabis-distrik, bly in aanhouding. Volgens die hoofwoordvoerder van die Namibiese polisie, adjunk-kommissaris Kauna Shikwambi, het die beskuldigdes reeds in die landdroshowe van Gobabis en Katutura in Windhoek verskyn. Die name van die beskuldigdes soos verskaf deur Shikwambi is Micheal Shomeya Koshondatile (39), Barnabas Shitaleni Muzanime (35), die 31-jarige Petrus Petrus Nghifindaka, Victory Henghono (ook 31) en die 34-jarige Imanuel Stafanus Nangwasha.

The suspects involved in the poaching of a white rhinoceros bull on a farm in the Gobabis district remain in custody. According to the spokesperson of the Namibian police, Deputy Commissioner Kauna Shikwambi, the suspects have already appeared in the magistrate's courts of Gobabis and Katutura in Windhoek over the past weekend. The names of the suspects as provided by Shikwambi are Micheal Shomeya Koshondatile (39), Barnabas Shitaleni Muzanime (35), 31-year-old Petrus Petrus Nghifindaka, Victory Henghono (also 31), and 34-year-old Imanuel Stafanus Nangwasha.

Namibia's precious wildlife is under threat from criminals, as illegal wildlife trade has become the world's fourth-largest form of transnational crime. This was said by Ana Beatriz Martins, the European Union's ambassador to Namibia, at a press debriefing for 'Operation Saving Wildlife through Multilateral Cooperation in Africa' (Sama) in Windhoek yesterday. She said dozens of wildlife species have been pushed ever closer to extinction by habitat loss and illegal trade.

'n Karkas van 'n groot witrenosterbul is Sondagoggend op 'n plaas in die Gobabis-distrik ontdek wat

Two suspected poachers were shot to death in an exchange of fire with members of the anti-poaching unit in the Etosha National Park on Wednesday. The incident occurred at the Scorpionbelt, Western Zone, when a patrol of the anti-poaching unit observed shoeprints that had entered the park through the park's fence. According to the police, the suspects' tracks were pursued for a distance of 60 km up to a water point where Rhinos mostly feed on small shrubs.