The National Prosecuting Authority said on Monday that the Pretoria High Court had granted an order to seize the assets of suspected rhino poaching ring leader, Joseph Nyalunga. Spokesman, Medupe Simasiku said the order was granted in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act. Simasiku said: The application was launched by the Asset Forfeiture […]
South Africa has halted the total ban on rhino trophies, while 96 Rhinos have already been poached in South Africa this year. The United Nations Wildlife Trade Regulator (CITES) secretariat’s proposal halting the trade of rhino trophies and rejecting rhino products, is now being backed by Government. Environment Minister, Edna Molewa said in a statement, […]
The team over at Green Renaissance has started an activation along the N2 highway in Cape Town near the Cape Town International Airport. It will serve as a continual reminder of the epidemic that is rhino poaching in South Africa.
At last the South African government is taking a firm stance on educating countries in the Far East that rhino horn doesn’t cure ailments like erectile dysfunction.
With news reports surfacing this morning of yet another rhino been killed on a game farm in the North West, it is good to know that authorities are trying all kinds of methods to curb poaching. One such new weapon, employed by the Pilanesberg Nature Reserve for the first time yesterday, is Russell, a Belgian shepherd dog.
The Department of Environmental Affairs (read: the South African government) has welcomed (obviously?) the Council of the Global Environment Facility’s approval of R25 million worth of funding aimed at strengthening the current wildlife forensic capabilities in South Africa. The donation will help combat wildlife crimes like rhino poaching.
“Rhinos Under Threat” is a new YouTube documentary aiming to raise public awareness of the current crisis faced by poaching. It launched at the Rio+20 Conference earlier this week. See the full 28-minute film inside, however be warned that it might be upsetting for sensitive viewers.
More than R40 million worth of rhino horn, as well as elephant tusks and leopard skins were seized in two operations in Gauteng last week. Both operations are linked to a 40-year-old KwaZulu-Natal man, who was arrested, along with six foreigners, during the operations.
As the total number of rhino poached in the Kruger National Park reaches 130, it’s nice to read news like this. SANParks has reported that two suspects have been arrested, and one killed, in a shoot out in the Crocodile Bridge section of Kruger.
Ivo Vegter is one of South Africa’s most controversial columnists. An outspoken defender of fracking in the Karoo, champion of free market policies and general hurricane of argument, the debate in the comments section of Ivo’s regular Daily Maverick columns often outstrips the length of the original piece by a healthy margin. Ivo visited the […]
The Hawks raided the home of one Dawie Groenwald this morning, in an “uncapped asset forfeiture” (read: repo raid) worth an estimated R55 million. This is part of one of South Africa’s biggest wildlife cases involving rhino poaching and trade in their horns, and we’ve got photos from the raid, and the police statement, after the jump!
The owners and employees of Lombardini Game Lodge near Jeffrey’s Bay in the Eastern Cape were left somewhere between surprise, anger and hilarity when they arrived at work yesterday to discover that one of the lodge’s precious (though not living) inhabitants had been brutally attacked overnight.
The debate around re-opening the international rhino horn trade is still raging. While government has not given any indication yet of whether it will support the proposal to lift the ban, the demand for rhino horn from Chinese medicine practitioners is not going away.
It would appear that authorities are finally starting to make serious inroads into the rhino horn trafficking underworld. A suspected kingpin, and former Mpumalanga police officer, was arrested on Friday in Hazyview. He was found with four rhino horns, and over R60 000 in his possession.
Right on the back of the news that four SANParks employees have been arrested in relation to rhino posting, comes the news that three veterinarians have appeared in court for the wrongful possession of drugs used in rhino poaching. Does this mean that something is finally being done about the poaching crisis in the country?
I just had to look up the words “EPIC” and “FAIL” in the dictionary, and would you know, this story was listed underneath each description. A South African conservation group demonstrating an anti-poaching method for reporters accidentally killed the rhinoceros they were using in the demonstration.
On Monday, the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs in South Africa, Edna Molewa, met with the Minister of Tourism in Mozambique, Fernando Sumbana Junior. They met in Pretoria to discuss solutions to the rhino poaching epidemic occurring in the Kruger National Park. This is what they’ve concluded so far.
It’s good to see that the law is at least making the news when it comes to South Africa’s current problem with rhino poaching. Another arrest has been made, this time a 58 year old farmer in Limpopo, who was busted with rhino horn and illegal firearms on the farm that he manages.
A public and media outcry followed the release of information that a KZN businessman, who has not been identified, made a winning bid of R969 150 for the right to hunt a male white rhino in Mkuze Game Reserve. Rhino hunting permits are actually issued far more often than you might think.
National Geographic announced yesterday that we have lost a staggering 443 rhinos to poaching this year – a number that seems to climb exorbitantly on a daily basis. It’s with open arms that the country welcomes the sentencing of Hsu Hsien Lung to six years imprisonment for his part in rhino horn smuggling.
If you’ve been following the development of the rhino poaching issue in South Africa recently, you will be pleased to know that two Thai nationals, suspected to be central to an international rhino poaching syndicate, were arrested at OR Tambo International this morning.
The utter tragedy that is rhino poaching hit hardest within South Africa’s wildlife conservation community over the weekend. A top Kwa-Zulu Natal game ranger was killed accidentally by colleagues during an anti-poaching operative on Saturday. The incident, which took place at the Umfolozi Game Reserve in Zululand, has been described as the most devastating event in the history of conservation.