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When it comes to protecting our rhinos from poachers, there's not a one-size-fits-all solution. There are several ways that national parks, game reserves and organisations are fighting rhino poaching, from fitting rhinos with tracking devices, having anti-poaching units on the ground actively monitoring them, rhino dehorning, education drives, and more. And these do not happen in isolation either, as often a combination of methods are needed to successfully deter poachers. Naturally, all of these hero organisations doing the hard work protecting our rhinos need funds to operate…

As the cases of wildlife crime are on rise, Lilongwe Wildlife Trust has trained journalists in the country to follow and report court case procedures on Wildlife crimes accurately and in a professional manner.

Volgens dr. Ulf Tubbesing het sy span in die laaste twee jaar vyf vlakvarke van draadstrikke bevry.

According to dr. Ulf Tubbesing, his team has freed five warthogs from wire traps in the last two years.

A wildlife trafficker softly cried upon being sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for illegal possession of and trying to sell a pangolin. Zimbabwean national Tichaona Chifamba (41) appeared and pleaded guilty before Regional Magistrate Victor Ball in the Secunda Regional Court on Thursday, March 24. He was caught in an intelligence-driven operation on August 3 last year while peddling a Temminck's pangolin in the parking lot of A and E Hyperworld in Trichardt.

State prosecutors from 11 East African countries have vowed to tighten their cross border cooperation and tackle money launder crimes and other emerging transnational crimes.

Five people found guilty of rhino poaching and related charges were handed down sentences ranging from 16 years to 18 years behind bars.

Johannesburg: The Secunda regional court has sentenced a Zimbabwean national who was found in possession of a live pangolin to a 10-year jail term.

Corruption is a key enabler of the illegal wildlife trade and its effects can be seen in every stage of this crime chain. This is according to a new report by the wildlife trade monitoring network, TRAFFIC, which said by reviewing past wildlife crime court cases, the relationship between these crimes and corruption can be better understood. It noted that thoroughly investigating corruption in these cases can potentially identify higher-level individuals for investigation, arrest, conviction and appropriate sentencing, disrupting organised criminal groups to a greater extent.

Sibusiso Mahlaule (29), George Manyise (30) and Rodrigues Ngobeni (34) did not escape the might of the law and were sentenced by the Skukuza Regional Court for poaching on Friday March 11. The three were caught by field rangers in Kruger National Park on April 18, 2021. It was reported that the rangers, working at Pretoriuskop, had discovered some tracks that brought the presence of intruders to their attention.

Kursusgangers het onder meer geleer oor misdaadfotografie, om afgietsels van skoenafdrukke te neem en afdrukke van motorspore te maak.

Course participants learned, among other things, about crime photography, taking shots of shoe prints and making prints of car tracks.

A 40-year-old Mozambican national, Brian Phiri, has been sentenced after being convicted for poaching by the Skukuza Regional Court in Mpumalanga.

The Royal Foundation’s United for Wildlife and The British High Commission Gaborone, co-hosted a United for Wildlife conference in Kasane, Botswana. Supported by Zambesia Conservation Alliance, the event brought together leaders from the finance, transport, government, law enforcement and conservation organisations from the region with a common purpose of addressing the Illegal Wildlife Trade (IWT) in Southern Africa. The conference focused on sharing best practices in combatting IWT, while also discussing potential frameworks to assist future efforts in the region.

Cape Town - Poaching continues to decimate the rhino population with 451 rhinos poached in South Africa last year, 327 of them from government reserves and 124 from private property.

A wildlifetrafficker has been sentenced to more than a year in prison by the BertouaCourt of First Instance for trafficking in pangolin scales.

Aiming an immobilizing dart at a rapidly moving animal while leaning out of an airborne helicopter seems like an absurd undertaking, but this is how wildlife veterinarians are able to sedate a charging rhino. It's hair-raising work, but can save the rhino's life. Once the rhino lies down, the helicopter lands and a team of experts from Mozambique Wildlife Alliance (MWA) race towards the immobilized animal. They gently cover its eyes with a cloth, keeping it calm.

Cape Town - Yet another suspect has been nabbed for alleged dealing in succulent plants. A 49-year-old suspect was arrested at the Cape Town International Airport on Friday following a police tip-off that he was going to export two boxes of endangered succulents.

Zimparks rangers stumbled upon a decomposing elephant carcass suspected to have fallen victim to cyanide poisoning in Lupane.

South African National Parks (SANParks) today, 19 March 2022, welcomed the sentence meted out by the Skukuza Regional Court to a man convicted on 12 counts associated with poaching. The accused, Mike Nyathi, a 39 year old Mozambican man with a South African citizenship, faced 14 charges relating to two separate cases of rhino poaching.

Rural communities in the Okavango Delta in Botswana have accused the country's government of not engaging them in efforts to combat rampant poaching in the area. Since 2018, more than 100 rhinos have been gunned down by poachers in the Delta and communities in the region say the situation might have been better had the government engaged them in anti-poaching work.

Namwera Police Post in Mangochi has arrested Alex Jumbe, 50, for being found with a Pangolin. Mangochi Police Publicist Amina Tepani Daudi said the suspect who hails from Nakapa Village, Traditional Authority Bwananyambi in Mangochi was apprehended on March 16, 2022 at Mwambwanjira Trading Centre. Daudi added that Namwera Police detectives were tipped by members of the community that the suspect was offering for sale the listed species at the trading centre.

A suspected poacher was shot and killed at Malilangwe Conservancy Trust in Chiredzi during a gunfight with game scouts on Saturday and while his two accomplices escaped the scouts did recover a rifle and ammunition.

Amidst the growing devastating impact of climate change on the Nigerian environment, conservation efforts are being threatened by trafficking of wildlife.

Poaching activities around Hwange National Park went down last year, thanks to the involvement of local communities in anti-poaching campaigns. Poaching remains one of the main threats to the survival of painted dogs found in the area. Covid-19 induced lockdowns worsened the situation over the past two years.

Pretoria - A 29-year-old man has been arrested at the Skukuza Game reserve after he was allegedly found with equipment that is used for poaching, police said on Tuesday.

Over 230 poachers were arrested, and over 300 firearms seized, between 2016 and 2021, in the Zinave National Park in Mozambique, the manager of the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC) said on Monday.

As Malawi registers a drop in ivory and rhino horn trafficking, it has noticed an increase in pangolin poaching with related arrests having tripled between 2019 and 2020.

There is an urgent need to step up the fight against wildlife crime and human-induced reduction of species, which have wide-ranging economic, environmental and social impacts in the country, Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndhlovu says.

In Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe, the Bumi Hills Anti-Poaching Unit (BHAPU) - a small but fiercely dedicated anti-poaching unit - faces a mammoth task. The team is responsible for protecting 3,500 elephants in the area from violent ivory poachers. BHAPU cannot do this without a patrol vehicle, and theirs has reached the end of its life.

Pretoria - Sixty dogs have been dispatched across the Kruger National Park to help curb poaching. The almost 2 million-hectare park has a major problem with poachers targeting rhinos, lions and elephants.

On this material day, Mangochi Police detectives were tipped by members of the community that the said suspects were possessing the listed species (Pangolin) at the said house looking for buyers.

There are concerns that cases of wildlife poaching in Botswana could increase, following the government’s decision to allow game farming on land that has no security or fencing to control the movement of wild animals.

Gestern war der "Tag des Artenschutzes", dessen Feierlichkeiten sich auch das namibische Ministerium für Umwelt, Forstwirtschaft und Tourismus anschloss. Der Tag wurde 2013 von der UN Generalversammlung festgelegt und soll auf die wilden Tiere und Pflanzen der ganzen Welt aufmerksam machen. Das Motto des diesjährigen "Tag des Artenschutzes" lautet: "Wiederherstellung von Schlüsselarten für die Restaurierung von Ökosystemen".

Citizens have been urged to join hands with the government to reverse the current trends of poaching, an official said as the country joined the rest of the world in celebrating World Wildlife Life Day on Thursday. The theme for commemorating World Wildlife Day 22 is which seeks to draw attention to the conservation status of some of the critically endangered species of fauna and flora.

Our analysis of wildlife crimes data, supported by numerous interviews, finds evidence of systematic failure by Nigerian law enforcement and the judicial system to hold wildlife poachers and traffickers accountable.

Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) spokesperson in the Western Cape said the elephant ivory dealer entered into a plea agreement with the State. The court sentenced Ziwande, 38, to "a fine of R10 000 wholly suspended for five years" for the offence, said Hani. He pleaded guilty to one charge under the Contravention of Section 42(1)(b). Ziwande was arrested on 14 May 2021, after the police’s Crime Intelligence provided the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation team in Cape Town with a tip-off.

The Zimbabwe Environmental Law Association (Zela) has called on key stakeholders, including the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks), to collaborate in combating illegal trade and smuggling of wildlife products. The call coincided with the World Wildlife Day commemorations held yesterday. Wildlife trafficking in Africa is mainly rife in politically unstable countries and where there is widespread breakdown of law and order.

A 41-year-old South African national has appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate's Court on Monday after a dead python was found in the truck he was driving. According to the Khomas police spokesperson, Warrant Officer Silas Shipandeni, Ayanda Gxoyiyana was arrested at the Windhoek-Okahandja roadblock after the police pulled him over for a routine search and found a freshly killed python in his truck's toolbox.

Rundu - The Kapinga Kamwalye Conservancy in the Mashare constituency of Kavango East is facing a crisis of illegal tree harvesting. At one crime scene, about 86 logs of illegally harvested Kiaat timber, scientifically known as Pterocarpus Angolensis, were found and 10 at another by conservancy members who were

Two Angolans and three Namibians, of which one is a traditional doctor, were remanded in custody after being arrested for possession of 29 pieces of elephant tusks at Onhuno, Helao Nafidi Town.

Pretoria - The Tembisa Regional Court has convicted and sentenced 49-year-old Ping Wu to five years direct imprisonment for money laundering. Spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi, said in April 2019, the Hawks serious organised crime investigation team based in Middelburg registered an undercover investigation into allegations of illegal trade in rhino horn. "The scope of the project was to address a syndicate in Gauteng who were illegally dealing in rhino horns," said Sekgotodi.

In Côte d'Ivoire, an alleged trafficker operating in the illegal ivory trade was arrested on Friday, November 19, 2021 in the town of Treichville. The alleged trafficker, in possession of two ivory tusks was arrested when he was about to sell the goods in the cables of a jewelry store belonging to him.

At farm Otjirukaku on the B8 road, a 23-year-old male was shot and wounded allegedly by a farmer while attempting to poach wildlife on the property. The victim’s friend managed to flee the scene unharmed. The victim is currently hospitalised in a local hospital and his condition is stable, according to the authorities.

European Union-backed conservation project has trained a new frontline to fight to protect nature across five African nations.

The Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana has revealed that over the past 10 years, rhino horns weighing 865kg were seized during Sars Customs border operations between 2014 and 2021. Countries where rhino horns have been trafficked to include Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, Dubai, Turkey and Nigeria.

In the war on poaching, some of the best defenders have four legs. Trained canines are used in some of South Africa's national parks to detect wildlife contraband like rhino horns, pangolin scales, and ivory at airports and roadblocks. Other dogs are trained to track and apprehend poachers in the field. According to Save the Rhino, 9,885 rhinos have been lost to poaching in the last decade. But Carl Thornton, founder and director of Pit-Track K9 Conservation and Anti-Poaching Unit, says the numbers are likely much higher.

Wildlife crime in Southern Africa has become easier to track and harder to hide, after the launch of Africa's first geomapping tool designed to follow court cases and convictions in the region.

Durban - Environmental organisations have welcomed the arrest of two suspects found in possession of ivory with a street value of R400 000 in Ballito last week. It is alleged that the suspects were trying to sell elephant tusks and were arrested after an undercover operation.

The Livingstone Subordinate Court has sentenced a Lusaka businessman of Garden-Chilulu compound to five years imprisonment with hard labour for unlawful possession of 196 kilograms of dried elephant meat. Ministry of Tourism Sakabilo Kalembwe has told #Mwebantu in a statement, that the businessman has also been sentenced to one year-six months imprisonment to run concurrently for escaping lawful custody in 2019 after being arrested for unlawful possession of 241 kgs of elephant ivory

Honde wat skape tydens strooptogte verskeur, lewende beeste waarvan die hakskene afgekap is en of wat in draadstrukke wurg, asook wild wat met assegaaie gesteek word en lydsaam vrek - dit is aan die orde van die dag op Namibiese plase. Selfs dragtige diere word nie deur stropers en diewe gespaar nie, terwyl landbouers net magteloos moet toekyk. Meer as 90 mense oraloor die land het Republikein die afgelope twee weke gekontak nadat vrae as deel van ‘n informele opname in die sosiale media oor vee- en wilddiefstal gestel is.

Die Polizei hat einen Mann am vergangenen Freitag in Katutura festgenommen, der im Besitz von sieben Schuppentierpanzern war. Das geht aus dem Polizeibericht vom Wochenende hervor. Der Verdächtige soll versucht haben, die Panzer zu verkaufen. Er habe die Exemplare einem verdeckten Polizeibeamten angeboten. Daraufhin sei der Mann in Gewahrsam genommen worden. Der Verdächtige sollte am Montag vor dem Amtsgericht in Katutura erscheinen. Die polizeilichen Ermittlungen dauern weiter an. Schuppentiere gelten zu den in Namibia streng geschützten Tierarten.