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The suspected poacher who was severely injured by a rhino last week in the Etosha National Park succumbed to his injuries on Saturday.

This year a total of 27 rhinos and 20 elephants have been poached, indicating a significant decline in poaching when compared to previous years. Releasing the latest statistics of recorded poaching incidents of rhino and elephants for this year, the environment and tourism minister, Pohamba Shifeta, said rhino poaching had gone done down by about 50% from 2016. In 2016, a total of 60 rhino were poached while 95 rhino were poached in 2015 and 56 rhino in 2014.

Fewer cases of poaching have been recorded across the country so far this year, announced environment minister Pohamba Shifeta in Windhoek yesterday. Shifeta said this at a media conference at which he announced that 27 rhinos have been paoched so far this year, compared to 60 in all of 2016 and 95 in 2015. Shifeta also said 20 elephants have been poached this year, compared to 101 in 2016 and 49 in 2015.

The Namibian Chamber of Environment has launched an outreach programme to educate Namibians about the precarious status of the pangolin. The initiative, which involves producing large posters and thousands of business card-sized mini-posters for distribution countrywide, is to raise awareness and appeal to every Namibian to help stop the illegal trade in the animal.

A suspected poacher was severely injured by a rhino in the Etosha National Park on Saturday evening. Warrant officer Simson Shilongo of the police in Kunene told The Namibian yesterday that Luteni Muharukua (age unknown) and other alleged poachers had entered the national park illegally to poach rhinos.

The Namibian Chamber of Environment has launched an outreach programme to educate Namibians about the precarious status of the pangolin. The initiative, which involves producing large posters and thousands of business card-sized mini-posters for distribution countrywide, is to raise awareness and appeal to every Namibian to help stop the illegal trade in the animal.

In the Namibian newspaper of 13 September 2017, under the heading 'N$25m per person killed by wildlife', a participant in one of the consultative meetings held in the Zambezi region by the National Council standing committee on habitat criticised the Ministry of Environment and Tourism for placing more value on an animal's life than on a human's life.

Smuggling routes have become more convoluted as syndicates attempt to evade detection, a new report says. Namibia has been identified as a significant link in the international rhino-horn smuggling network. This follows a surge in rhino poaching in Namibia since 2013. Previously the country was not identified in this trafficking route. This is according to a rapid assessment of smuggling routes and techniques used in the illicit trade in African rhino horn.

Police Inspector-General Sebastian Ndeitunga has called for the establishment of a database of all trespassers in national parks and nature reserves to establish whether there are links with poachers and possible buyers of rhino horns and elephant tusks. Ndeitunga made these remarks at the Etosha National Park while addressing Heads of Criminal Investigation, Operations, Special Branch and Special Field Force Directorates as well as regional commanders from the Oshana, Oshikoto, Omusati, Kunene and Otjozondjupa regions.

The Ministry of Environment and Tourism has announced that 31 rhino carcasses have been found since April 8. In a statement issued over the weekend, Permanent Secretary Simeon Negumbo said the illegal hunting of rhino in Namibia must be brought under control rapidly. Negumbo said an investigation was under way to determine the cause of the deaths, as some carcasses were old and still had their horns.

The threat looming over Namibia's rhinoceros population is even bigger than previously thought, with 38 rhino carcasses having been discovered in the Etosha National Park so far this year. The Ministry of Environment and Tourism announced in a media statement on Friday that another 31 rhino carcasses have been found in the Etosha National Park since 8 April.

The Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) said on Friday that a total of 31 rhino carcasses were discovered in the Etosha National Park during the course of last week. Most of the carcasses were found in the western part of Etosha.

An independent investigator found no evidence of suspicions of any of the Save the Rhino Trust Namibia (SRT) staff being involved in poaching, according to an official SRT statement released on Wednesday. Last December the SRT launched an internal investigation in response to newspaper reports that alleged that its staff was involved in rhino poaching in the Kunene region.

Suspicious accounts amounting to N$329 million were halted by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) last year in the ongoing battle against money laundering. The possible offences that were identified during the analyses of the reports included corruption, fraud, tax evasion, contravention of exchange control regulations, rhino poaching, theft, diamond smuggling, illegal scams and illegal casino gambling.

Namibia continues losing rhinoceroses and elephants to the greed of poachers, with seven carcasses of poached rhinos having been discovered in the Etosha National Park so far this year. The discovery of the carcasses of seven poached rhinos in the Etosha National Park since the start of this year brings the number of rhinos killed by poachers in Namibia's premier wildlife refuge since October last year up to 11, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Simeon Negumbo, announced in a media statement on Friday.

The escalation of rhino and elephant poaching in Namibia continues unabated, with yet another case reported at the weekend. This follows the discovery of an elephant carcass in a village located in the Bwabwata National Park in the Kavango East Region.

While several new cases of rhino poaching have been discovered in Namibia the new Minister of Environment and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, says he will not tolerate complacency from staff members, especially in areas where repeated poaching is happening. Five rhino carcases were discovered about two weeks ago during a rhino dehorning exercise in the Kunene Region. Four of these rhinos had been poached, the ministry confirmed. The rhinos were presumably shot last year already and the carcasses were found in the area of Omatendeka.