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Community-led antitrafficking networks are proving pivotal in helping authorities intercept poachers targeting critically endangered and endemic tortoises in southern Madagascar’s fast-disappearing spiny forests. Illegal hunting, both for their meat and to supply the pet trade, has decimated the species’ population in recent decades. Indigenous people living in the range of the imperiled species are motivated to protect them due to long-standing traditional beliefs that value and respect the tortoises.

Conservationists have raised the alarm about the rapid decline in Nigeria’s lion population, which now stands at fewer than 50 wild lions; a stark contrast to the thousands that roamed the country decades ago. They urged Nigerians to protect lions by reducing illegal bushmeat consumption, supporting better protection of their shrinking habitat, and championing anti-poaching measures. The experts also cautioned that losing these apex predators would have devastating consequences for Nigeria’s ecosystems and cultural heritage, as well as its tourism potential.

The Istanbul Airport seizure of a smuggled baby gorilla on Dec. 22, has led to significant developments in Thailand. Acting on information shared by Turkish authorities following the smuggling case, Thai police raided a farm in Nakhon Pathom province, uncovering 284 animals from 22 species, raising concerns about illegal wildlife trade.

South Africa and Nambia's biodiversity has given rise to a wave of illegal activities, orchestrated by organized crime groups. These groups have sprung up as a result of the demand for unique plants known as succulents. South Africa's biodiversity is being threatened by organized crime groups involved in illegal poaching of rare succulent plants. Succulents are found in the Succulent Karoo desert in South Africa and Namibia, known for their ability to retain water in harsh conditions.

South Africa has faced a surge in poaching of rare succulents by criminal syndicates since 2019. A recent spike in prices paid for a different kind of plant, a drylands-adapted lily, the miracle clivia (Clivia mirabilis), has drawn the attention of plant-trafficking syndicates to the lone reserve where it grows. Large numbers of clivias have been seized by law enforcement, raising fears that this rare plant is quickly being wiped out from the limited range where it’s known to occur.

Acting on a tip-off, Mpumalanga police nabbed two men with a stash of rifles near the Kruger National Park. The suspects, aged 37 and 38, were arrested on Monday, 16 December. Police received crucial intel that was swiftly acted upon by the Tactical Response Team. Brigadier Donald Mdhluli, Mpumalanga police spokesman, said: "An intelligence operation was immediately launched, leading us to two houses in Kabokweni and Pienaar, near the Kruger border."

Two men, aged 37 and 38, were arrested on Monday, December 16, in a coordinated operation targeting suspected poachers near the Kruger National Park. The arrests, carried out by the SA Police Service (SAPS) Tactical Response Team (TRT), followed intelligence from the police’s Crime Intelligence Structure said the Mpumalanga police spokesperson, Brigadier Donald Mdhluli.

A number of Botswana Community Trusts are unwittingly part of a huge international wildlife criminal network - Sunday Standard investigations have revealed. Documents passed to the Sunday Standard have revealed how the trusts are used as "grey" nodes (legal players who participate in illegal activities) in criminal hunting schemes by the international wildlife mafia.

An incident of illegal hunting involving protected game was reported to the police in Omaruru on Friday after the remains of a waterbuck and an ostrich were discovered on a farm in the area. The exact time of the crime is unknown, but the police suspect it occurred between 27 and 29 November. The head and intestines of the waterbuck, as well as the legs of the ostrich, were found at the scene of the crime. No arrests have been made yet.

The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Dr Dion George, has condemned the illegal harvesting of the West Coast Rock Lobster and the indiscriminate targeting of its egg-bearing females. These illegal activities destroy millions of potential lobsters that could contribute to a sustainable marine ecosystem and could also provide much-needed economic opportunities to local communities.

Kanyaruchinya, Democratic Republic of Congo - Amid a circle of spectators, a troupe of performers takes center stage. Songs resound, accompanied by the beat of drums and lively dances. A large banner carries a powerful message: "The future of our environment depends on our behavior today." The drumming soon gives way to a play performed in Swahili. We're in Kanyaruchinya, in the Nyiragongo territory of North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Some 200,000 people have sought refuge in the southern part of the province, seeing a conflict that has been raging since…

Judge Collins Parker on Monday in the High Court in Windhoek struck down the counter-application of Ottilie Ndimulunde to an urgent court application by two communal conservation areas in the Kunene region, a traditional authority and tourism company. "The first respondent came to play rugby, but the game is a football game, so to speak," Parker argued in the court order, declaring the four applicants' case regarding a new road to a tin mine urgent. The four applicants are the conservation areas of Doro !

A fromer police officer who was kicked out of the Namibian Police after being arrested on rhino-poaching and firearms charges has lost a Supreme Court appeal about his dismissal. Former detective inspector Wersimus Haipa’s appeal to the Supreme Court was dismissed in a judgement delivered on Friday. Haipa appealed against a High Court judgement in which an application by him to have his discharge from the police reviewed and set aside was dismissed in May this year.

The blurb for an editorial in The Namibian newspaper on 9 November read: "From Kavango to Kunene, down south across the breadth and width of Namibia, the scramble for the country’s mineral, oil and energy sources is in overdrive." The article ended: "Government officials have turned Namibia into an unsustainable El Dorado with a vicious cycle of short-term searches for riches dishing out mining exploration licences to a select few." As you read this, graders, excavators and tipper trucks are hacking a road through three conservancies famous for their conservation of endangered,…

Two Namibian community conservancies and a tourism operator have turned to the courts to block development of a tin mine. The conservancies say the environmental impact assessments for the open-pit mine are flawed and will disturb wildlife, including critically endangered southern black rhinos. In a similiar case in the //Huab Conservancy, a copper mine disturbed wildlife in the area, forcing rhino-based tourism to shut down.

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.

Beslag is op altesaam 63 patrone, vyf vuurwapens en twee muskeljaatkatvelle gelê.

A total of 63 cartridges, five firearms and two Cape Genet skins were seized.

Guyanese finches are almost always smuggled in hair curlers from Guyana to New York, while pig-nosed turtles are trafficked in high amounts, declared as a marine species, and flown from a regional Indonesian airport to Jakarta before flying to China. The greatest variation in wildlife trafficking in air transport doesn’t necessarily occur between regions but between the species or wildlife products trafficked, the specific methods used with the routes taken by wildlife traffickers heavily dependent on wildlife type, says the Runway to Extinction report:…

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.

Beslag is op altesaam 64 patrone, vyf vuurwapens en twee muskeljaatkatvelle gelê.

A total of 64 cartridges, five firearms and two Cape Genet skins were seized.

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.

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.

The country's national parks will be closed for the duration of the lockdown until 5 May in compliance with the state of emergency declared by the President in reaction to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Ministry of Environment and Tourism, spokesperson, Romeo Muyunda, in a statement last week said during the duration, tour operations and guiding activities will not be allowed in the national parks which also includes closure of accommodation establishments.

Parliament has recommended amendments to the Wildlife Act to provide protection for whistleblowers and ensure stiff penalties for those found in possession of cyanide, a dangerous chemical often used by poachers to poison elephants.

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.

Wildmisdaad het tydens die Covid-19-hoktyd afgeneem met net een saak aangemeld en twee Namibiese mans wat in hegtenis geneem is. Volgens die weeklikse wildmisdaadverslag is mnr. Jason Hamutenya verlede Dinsdag op Usakos glo met twee lewende skilpaaie in sy besit vasgetrek. Die ander vermeende wildmisdadiger, mnr. Matias Kaurikengererua is verlede Woensdag by Osire in verband met die sameswering om 'n renoster te stroop, in hegtenis geneem.

According to the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks), 322 elephants were killed by poachers between 2016 and 2019, largely for their tusks. These are then shipped out to Asia, via South Africa, but the real number may be much higher, according to wildlife groups. Much of the poaching occurs in northern Zimbabwe in game reserves straddling the border with Zambia, according to ZimParks, a statutory body responsible for managing the country’s wildlife population.

Die Polizei hat am Dienstagmittag einen 31-jährigen Einwohner von Usakos festgenommen, der im Besitz von zwei Schildkröten gewesen sei und über keine Genehmigung verfügt habe. Laut Erongo-Polizeisprecher wird Jason Hamunyela ein Verstoß gegen das Wildtiergesetz beziehungsweise der illegale Handel mit Wildtierprodukten vorgeworfen. Den Wert der Tiere beziffern die Behörden mit 20000 Namibia-Dollar. „Die Schildkröten wurden an Beamte des Ministeriums für Umwelt, Forstwirtschaft und Tourismus in Omaruru überreicht, wo sie sicher aufbewahrt werden“, erklärte der Polizeisprecher.

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.

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.

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).

Handel mit Wildtierprodukten: Behörden nehmen fünf Tatverdächtige in drei getrennten Fällen fest. Die Behörden haben am vergangenen Wochenende mehrere mutmaßliche Schmuggler mit illegalen Wildtierprodukten verhaftet. Das geht aus dem gestern in Windhoek veröffentlichten Polizeibericht hervor, der von fünf Festnahmen in drei getrennten Fällen berichtet. Es seien bei den Einsätzen insgesamt vier Schuppentier-Panzer, zwei Leopardenfelle und zwei Elefantenstoßzähne sichergestellt worden.

Two men age 33 and 39 were arrested here on Friday for being in possession of controlled wildlife products. The Namibian Police Force crime investigations coordinator for the Kavango East Region, Deputy Commissioner Bonifatius Kanyetu told Nampa on Monday the incident happened at around 21h00. Kanyetu said at the time of the arrest the two men were found in possession of two leopard skins and three pangolin skins.

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.

Drie Angolese mans en 'n Namibiër is Saterdag glo met twee olifanttande en ietermagôprodukte in die Akati-nedersetting by Outapi vasgetrek.

Three Angolan men and a Namibian were reportedly apprehended in the Akati settlement at Outapi on Saturday with two elephant teeth and pangolin products.

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.

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.

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…

Cape Town - An American citizen has been sentenced to two years in jail, suspended for five years, and further banned from the country for the illegal possession of indigenous plants. Kalman Kaminar was sentenced in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on two counts of illegal possession of succulent plants declared as protected.

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.