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The bail application hearing of a man accused of being involved in the killing of a black rhino on a game reserve near Otjiwarongo last month, ended in a deadlock in court on Friday. The 30-year-old Eeno Anguwo was arrested at Omuthiya on 15 April after he was connected to a syndicate of poachers who allegedly shot and killed the rhino bull valued at N$800 000.

A chance encounter over 35 years ago changed the lives of two women after realising that they share the same passion for wildlife conservation.

There are worrying signs that Namibia's legendary wild game numbers may be plummeting.

Four Chinese men, who were originally handed 14-year sentences for wildlife crimes, including rhino horn  smuggling, had the shock of their lives when their appeal ended with the High Court also convicting and sentencing them for money laundering.

An iron fist should be used against people who commit crimes against endangered wildlife in Namibia, a judge commented in an appeal judgement handed down in the Windhoek High Court on Friday.

The bail application of businessman Petrus Shihepo Shimuningeni who was arrested in February this year for alleged rhino poaching, was turned down in the Outjo Magistrate's Court on Wednesday. Shimuningeni and his four co-accused, aged 25, 26, 27 and 32, appeared before Magistrate Peingondjabi Shipo who denied bail because it is not in the public interest or the interest of the administration of justice for bail to be granted.

A bail application hearing for a 35-year-old businessman linked to poached black and white rhinos at a private game farm near Etosha National Park in the Kunene Region is underway in the Outjo Magistrate's Court.

A suspected rhino poacher was trampled to death by an elephant and his body devoured by lions in South Africa's Kruger National Park, officials said Monday. South African rangers have recovered the skull of the man in the vast Kruger sanctuary, which has born the brunt of much of the country's poaching  crisis. According to a park spokesman, rangers were alerted after the victim's alleged accomplices told his family that he had been crushed to death by an elephant.

The Chinese national who was arrested last month at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg after being caught with 18 rhino horns in his luggage has been denied bail. Ye Zhiwei, 28, appeared in the Kempton Park Magistrate''s Court in South Africa on Tuesday on a charge of dealing in rhino horn under the Endangered Spices Act. South African Hawks spokesperson Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu confirmed to Namibian Sun that Ye was denied bail and that his case was postponed to 17 January for disclosure of evidence and for further investigation.

South African police raided an illegal Vietnamese lion and tiger bone syndicate operating in the North West at the weekend, after at least 40 lions were reportedly killed at a lion farm near Klerksdorp. According to Hawks spokesperson captain Tlangelani Rikhotso, six foreigners and two South African men were nabbed in the multi-disciplinary operation conducted by members of the Potchefstroom Crime Intelligence unit, the Hawks and the Potchefstroom and Klerksdorp flying squads units.

FOUR Chinese nationals serving a 14-year jail term have approached the high court this week to appeal the sentence as it was "too severe", according to their lawyers. Wang Hui, 43, Li Zhibing, 57, Pu Xuexin, 53 and Li Xiaoliang, 34 tried to smuggle 14 rhino horns and a leopard skin out of Namibia in 2014. How they managed to get through security detection machines at the Hosea Kutako International Airport is to date a mystery.

A new project was launched last week that will assist Namibia in its efforts to fight wildlife crime. The International Consortium on Combatting Wildlife Crime (ICCWC) Wildlife and Forest Crime Analytic Toolkit was launched by environment minister Pohamba Shifeta last week at a workshop organised by the Anti-Corruption Commission. The project provides the technical resources to assist governments in conducting a comprehensive analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of a country's response to wildlife crime.

If rhino owners are not allowed to harvest and legally sell horns, poachers will kill every last rhino in Namibia. This is according to environment minister Pohamba Shifeta, who was speaking last week at a meeting where the poaching situation in the country was discussed. Shifeta said the price of a rhino horn has skyrocketed and is currently about N$900 000 per kilogram. "It is going up every day." He said if rhino range countries could sell rhino horns, the price will go down because the demand would still be there.