Tag Archives: poaching
Poacher behind March slaughter of 89 elephants captured in Chad
A prolific elephant poacher in Chad has been captured by authorities and paraded to the media. The poacher Hassan Idriss, also known as Gargaf is said to be behind the slaughter of 89 elephants in one night (14-15 March) near to Ganba. He is thought to lead a gang of poachers that has killed 192 [...]
KWS Director delivers speech to annual meeting
The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) Director, William Kiprono, has delivered a speech about the current state of wildlife to the annual meeting of Wardens and Scientists. The meeting was held at the KWS headquarters in Nairobi. As you would expect the bulk of the speech was connected with the current wildlife poaching crisis. Some of the [...]
Losing the fight to save the rhino
Over the last 3 or 4 years there has been a chilling increase in the number of rhinos being poached each year. While the numbers seem to escalate there was hope that the rhino would survive provided the poaching could be bought under control before deaths exceeded the birth rate of the rhino. Sadly the [...]
10 KWS staff investigated for spying for poachers
The re-organisation of the Kenya Wildlife Service earlier this year appears to be starting to pay dividends. 10 officers of the Kenya Wildlife Service, including a senior warden and company commander, in Tsavo have been suspended for working with poaching gangs. Tsavo was one of the regions in Kenya that saw a massive increase in [...]
Rhino killings surge to an average of more than 5 a day last week
The South African government has just released the rhino statistics covering the last week and there has been a shocking surge in rhino poaching. So far this year 350 rhino have been killed that’s 37 up on last weeks figures or an average of 5.3 rhino killed each day. The surge has been driven by [...]
United States sentences Vietnamese rhino traders to 3.5 years in prison
The Judge went easy on two rhino horn traders in the United States yesterday when she sentences one to 42 months and another to 46 month in prison. This was less than the sentences that the US Federal prosecutors called for. The father and son team who were Vietnamese emigrants were also fined and ordered [...]
3 rhino a day killed in South Africa last week
South African authorities have just released the weekly statistics for rhino poaching in the country. Last week 21 rhino were killed taking the total so far this year to 313. The 21 rhinos killed in the last week means that the current average of rhinos being poached is 3 a day. The Kruger National Park [...]
Elephant campaigner charged with ivory possession
One of the top officials of an elephant campaigning group in Kenya has been charged with illegal possession of ivory after 19Kg of ivory was found in the back of her car. Her son has also been jointly charged. Soila Sayialel is the deputy director of Kenyan campaign group Amboseli Trust for Elephants and was [...]
Elephant death toll at Dzanga Bai starts to come in
The impact of the incursion of 17 poachers at the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park in the Central Africa Republic has started to come in now that the area is safe again for rangers to enter. So far 26 elephants bodies have been found at the Dzanga Bai or ‘Village of the Elephants’. On Monday a group [...]
The Dzanga-Ndoki incident, is there a Chinese connection
A couple of days ago the WWF issued an alert over an incursion into the Dzanga-Ndoki National Park by a section of the Seleka rebels from the Central Africa Republic. There are reports that these rebels are working with the Sudanese poachers that plague the area. Now latest reports are coming in that the incursion [...]
Tanzanian opposition calls for poachers to be hung
Tanzanian Leader of the Opposition, Freeman Mbowe, announced in the Parliament yesterday that it’s time to get tough with poachers and that those caught poaching should face the death penalty and be hung. Mbowe was speaking at a debate on the Natural Resources and Tourism budget. He referred to a The Parliamentary Committee on Land, Natural [...]
Rhino horn smugglers go free due to lack of interpreters
South African courts have released two major rhino horn smugglers because the government were unable to provide court interpreters. The two Vietnamese rhino horn smugglers were caught in November 2010 after a routine search at a roadblock. The smugglers were aboard a bus and had 12 rhino horn concealed in their suitcases. Xuan Binh Dang, [...]
Ghana Forest Commission sees 62 of its rangers killed since 2011
The Forest Commission in Ghana has lost 62 of it’s forest rangers since 2011 mainly to illegal loggers and miners. The attacks by criminals on their rangers has led to the commission setting up a specialist rapid response team that can quickly move in to provide extra support to rangers on the ground and investigate [...]
Minister calls for shoot to kill policy in Botswana
The Deputy Speaker of the Botswana Parliament, Pono Moatlhodi, has called for the immediate introduction of a shoot to kill policy to tackle poachers targeting rhino and elephants in the country. His call for a new tougher stance against the poachers comes just days after Mozambique declared that the Limpopo National Park lost its last [...]
Can the elephants survive the coup in Central African Republic
Last month saw the government of the Central African Republic overthrown by rebels and the state has now become lawless. Rebels groups have reportedly joined up with Sudanese poachers and elephants are facing a crisis. Conservation groups World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and World Conservation Society (WCS) have today released a joint statement calling for immediate [...]
No rhinos left in Limpopo National Park
Wildlife officials in Mozambique have announced the devastating news that there are no rhino left in the Limpopo National Park in the south of the country. They made the announcement earlier today (Wednesday) at a media briefing. Uncontrolled poaching over the last couple of years has resulted in the last rhino being killed in the [...]
From rhino horn to smelly feet
A new advertising campaign has been launched in Vietnam by WWF and TRAFFIC to try and dissuade people from using rhino horn as medicine. The campaign highlights that rhino horn is the same material as finger and toe nails. The highly visual campaign will see posters of rhinos whose horns have been replaced with feet [...]
Hundreds of frozen pangolins found on rogue fishing vessel
Philippines Coastguards have announced that hundreds of frozen pangolins have been found in the hold of a rogue Chinese fishing vessel that went aground in one of it’s marine nature reserves. The fishing vessel that was operating illegally in the marine reserve went aground on the Tubbataha reef, in Palawan island, western Philippines, last week. [...]
Rhino horn worth $2.75 million stolen from ranch
Many wildlife ranches in South Africa are dehorning their rhinos to try and stop them from being killed by poacher. Across the country rhino horn worth millions of dollars are stored on ranches and reserves. One of these rhino horn stockpiles has just been targeted and the thieves managed to escape with horn valued at $2.75 millions. [...]
1,000 new rangers announced for Kenya Wildife Service
Now the elections are over the government has announced plans to boost the fight against the poachers. In an announcement today Government spokesman, Muthui Kariuki, said Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) would have another 1,000 rangers made available to them. The ranger service would also be modernised with more effective weapons and new training to make [...]