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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.

Twee renosterkarkasse is gister in die Etendeka-toerismekonsessie in die Kunenestreek gevind.

Two rhino carcasses were found in the Etendeka tourism concession in the Kunene region yesterday.

89 ietermagôskubbe gekonfiskeer. Vier vermeende renosterstropers bly in aanhouding nadat hulle glo ’n witrenosterbul gestroop en ’n witrenosterkoei in die Grootfontein-distrik gekwes het.

89 pangolin scales confiscated. Four suspected rhino poachers remain in custody after they allegedly poached a white rhino bull and injured a white rhino cow in the Grootfontein district.

Vier mutmaßliche Nashornwilderer, die vergangene Woche in Grootfontein verhaftet wurden, bleiben vorerst in Untersuchungshaft. Die Tatverdächtigen, Dave Uatenguainja Ngumbi (35), Alfred Rukee Katupao (49), Lucas Hidinwa Kautpao (38) und Hengua Kaipi Ngange (40), sind zu Beginn der Woche im Magistratsgericht von Otjiwarongo erschienen. Bei dem Hafttermin wurde der Fall zwecks weiterer Untersuchungen auf den 24. November dieses Jahres vertagt.

Two villagers from Binga have been arrested in Zambia after they were found in possession of a live pangolin they allegedly intended to sell in the neighbouring country.

Vier vermeende renosterstropers is verlede week by Grootfontein in hegtenis geneem nadat hulle glo ’n witrenosterbul gestroop en ’n witrenosterkoei gekwes het.

Four suspected rhino poachers were arrested at Grootfontein last week after they allegedly poached a white rhino bull and injured a white rhino cow.

Die Polizei hat vier mutmaßliche Wilderer verhaftet, die auf einer privaten Farm im Grootfontein-Distrikt Breitmaulnashörner gejagt und eines der Tiere erlegt haben sollen. Das berichtete die Polizeisprecherin der Otjozondjupa-Region, Inspector Maureen Mbeha, gestern in Otjiwarongo.

Police have arrested four suspected poachers who are believed to have hunted and killed white rhinos on a private farm in Grootfontein district. This was reported by the police spokeswoman for the Otjozondjupa region, Inspector Maureen Mbeha, yesterday in Otjiwarongo.

A twenty-year-old Zambian man was arrested on Sunday in the Zambezi region after he was found in possession of one elephant tusk and 81 pangolin scales.

Three carcasses of lions were recently recovered in the wildlife-rich Gonarezhou National Park, south-east of the Lowveld amid fears that poachers from Mozambique were using cyanide to poison animals.

Rampant poaching activities in Matetsi area of Hwange District are threatening the viability of safari hunting industry, a leading safari operator has said. In an interview with Business Chronicle safari operator, Mr Wisdom Bushe Neshavi, said the upsurge in poaching case is crippling safari hunting, which is already reeling under the effects of the novel Covid-19) pandemic.

Four (4) suspects were arrested on 21 August 2020 after they illegally hunted a specially protected game (rhino). The suspects conspired and entered a private Farm to hunt rhinos, they shot and injured a female white Rhino and killed one male White Rhino. The horns were removed. The cow managed to escape with a gunshot wound. It survived.

Large abalone consignment was kept under surveillance as it travelled from Cape Town to Johannesburg. Police have seized abalone worth an estimated R3-million at a home in the Johannesburg suburb of Mayfair and arrested a 46-year-old man.

The stricter lockdown of the last few months led to an unexpected consequence - a major decline in rhino poaching. South Africa, home to more than 80% of African rhinos that still exist in the world, is a hotspot for rhino poaching. The number of rhinos killed for their horns has been slowly declining over recent years, but the pandemic and lockdown quelled poaching even more, according to a report from the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries.

Specialist state prosecutor Advocate Ansie Venter confirmed that the court remains closed, pending Mpumalanga regional court president Naomi Engelbrecht's petition to the Supreme Court of Appeal. The fate of the Skukuza Regional Court continues to teeter as the conservation community waits for the outcome of a petition for leave to appeal a court ruling earlier this year. The court is significant in fighting against rhino poaching, in its recent heyday boasting a 99.8% conviction rate, and 100% success rate in opposed bail…

Botswana has decided to re-arm its wildlife rangers as the southern African country battles increased cases of poaching. In the last six months, at least 17 poachers have been killed in gunfire exchanges with the army. The government had disarmed wildlife rangers in 2018, saying that under the law, only the military was allowed the use of firearms during anti-poaching patrols. With the country losing 56 rhinoceros to poachers in the last two years, the government is reconsidering that approach. Wildlife and Tourism …

Some conservationists and activists in South Africa are concerned that criminal syndicates are making it even more difficult to protect rhinos from poachers.

A comprehensive new guide has been published to assist law enforcement agencies to identify trafficked ivory. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) secretariat, TRAFFIC and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) have published the Identification Guide for Ivory and Ivory Substitutes. It is a comprehensive and accessible resource for identifying the most commonly found ivories and artificial substitutes used for trade.

Vyf Namibiese mans is verlede week in verband met renosterstropery of horingsmokkelary of pogings daartoe in hegtenis geneem. Volgens die weeklikse wildmisdaadverslag vanaf 10 tot 16 Augustus van die Namibiese polisie en die ministerie van die omgewing, bosbou en toerisme, is mnre. Petrus Johannes en David Ruben verlede Donderdag by Okahao in hegtenis geneem.

The Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) has started using drones to detect poachers as part of improved and technology-based conservation strategies.

'n Lewende ietermagô is Vrydagaand in 'n kamer van 'n 29-jarige man in die Wanaheda-woonbuurt in die hoofstad gevind.

A live pangolin was found in a room of a 29-year-old man in the Wanaheda neighborhood in the capital on Friday night.

Considering the amount of effort and funds that go into arresting a suspected poacher, and seeing court proceedings through, cases such as this take a signicant toll on the people involved in seeking justice.

Zambia is exploring the possibility of domestically selling its US$100 million ivory stockpile.

Three men suspected to be part of a poaching syndicate that has been illegally hunting elephants for their ivory at the Hwange National Park and Binga district both in Matabeleland North have been arrested after being found in possession of ivory worth US$11 395. Enos Mudenda (35) of Mankonkole village under Chief Saba in Binga, Joseph Ngwenya (32) of Siantele village in Chief Shana area in Hwange and Mark Sibanda (38) of Bulawayo’s Mahatshula suburb appeared before Hwange magistrate Sekai Chiwundura to answer to a charge of illegal possession of elephant ivory.

More than half of 363 suspects arrested for animal poaching or trafficking in 2020 were apprehended for crimes involving high-value animal species. This includes rhino, elephant and pangolin, according to the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism.

For two decades after Namibia's independence, the country experienced minimal commercial poaching. Over the past 10 years this has rapidly changed. Wildlife crime has skyrocketed and Namibia has rallied to counter the surge. A high of 97 poached rhinos estimated for 2015 has been reduced to 45 in 2019.

In Zimbabwe, where an estimated 85,000 elephants live, the fight to save vulnerable species isn’t just a full-time job-it's a lifeline. Among Zimbabwe's most dedicated anti-poachers are the Akashinga women, a radical all-female unit that patrols five former trophy hunting reserves for illegal activity. The highly-trained, quasi-military troop is an arm of the nonprofit International Anti-Poaching Foundation.

Six suspects were arrested in connection with wildlife crimes and three new cases were opened recently, while seized products included python, leopard and pangolin skins.

The Save the Rhino Trust (SRT) has received a N$1.11 million donation from the Debmarine-Namdeb Foundation to develop innovative ways to nurture reading skills among the youth and protect rhinos in the Kunene Region. The funds will be utilised for the rhino rangers programme, which supports rangers from local communities, but also the Rhino Pride Campaign.

Twee vermeende wildmisdadigers, mnr. Gabriel Kuutondokwa Nalitje en David Simon, is verlede Maandag in Windhoek glo met drie stukke ivoor en een elk luiperd- en ietermagôvel vasgetrek.

Two suspected wildlife criminals, Mr. Gabriel Kuutondokwa Nalitje and David Simon, were allegedly caught last Monday in Windhoek with three pieces of ivory and one each leopard and pangolin skin.

In just over a week, Ray Jansen and his team have recovered four trafficked pangolins - three of them pregnant - in sting operations from the illicit trade in various parts of South Africa. In total, 11 people were arrested by a team of dedicated and specialised law enforcement officers.The operations are a sign, says Jansen, of the African Pangolin Working Group, that pangolin poaching has resumed under Level 3 lockdown restrictions.

Three Zimbabwean nationals were on Thursday remanded in custody after they were arrested by the the Hawks in Johannesburg while allegedly selling an elephant tusk.