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Mail & Guardian

Illegal Wildlife Trade

latest news & developments
Urgent action: Even in protected areas, prey depletion and bushmeat snares pose serious risks. Many African countries have set aside significant protected areas that could support three to four times the current lion population if they were adequately funded and managed. Photo: Supplied
AFRICAN LIONS

Poaching for body parts poses ‘existential threat’ to lions

Scientists warn that rising demand in Africa and Asia is fuelling targeted poaching and could push some lion populations towards local extinction

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
LIANJIANG, CHINA – JUNE 09: Aerial view of an abalone aquaculture farm on June 9, 2020 in Lianjiang County, Fujian Province of China. (Photo by Tan Ailong/VCG via Getty Images)
ABALONE POACHING

Abalone trafficking fuels crime and coastal poverty in South Africa

Illegal trade has devastated populations, fuelled organised crime, and deepened poverty in coastal communities, while law enforcement struggles to keep pace

  • Sheree Bega
5 min read
Freshwater fish, sharks, rays, endemic plants and iconic mammals are among the country’s fastest-declining species, as invasive species, reduced freshwater flows and pollution intensify. (Wikimedia Commons)
CLIMATE CHANGE SOUTH AFRICA

Illegal wildlife trade, habitat loss and climate stress driving rapid biodiversity decline in SA

Freshwater fish, sharks, rays, endemic plants and iconic mammals are among the country’s fastest-declining species, as invasive species, reduced freshwater flows and pollution…

  • Sheree Bega
8 min read
Africa’s forest-dwelling hornbills — vital seed-dispersers in the forests of West and Central Africa — have won long-overdue international protection after countries approved a proposal to regulate their global trade. Photo: Frans van Heerden
APPENDIX II LISTING

Africa’s forest hornbills gain global protection as Cites lists species for first time

A coalition of African nations has secured new Cites controls on the international trade of hornbills amid concerns over habitat loss and surging demand for body parts

  • Sheree Bega
4 min read
Tiny stowaways — disease-carrying ticks — can be hidden beneath the armoured scales of pangolins, the world’s most illegally trafficked mammals.
BIODIVERSITY

Hidden hitchhikers: Ticks on trafficked pangolins pose health threats

Scientists warn that ticks carried by trafficked pangolins may spread pathogens across continents, affecting people and animals

  • Sheree Bega
3 min read
Photo: Jane Goodall Institute
AFRICAN PANGOLIN WORKING GROUP

South Africa’s pangolins face rising threat as illegal trade grows

China has proposed a drastic reduction in the use of pangolin scales for traditional medicine

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
The cub was kept in a makeshift wire enclosure. (Free Me Wildlife)
ANIMAL RESCUE SOUTH AFRICA

Tiger cub kept as a pet in KZN yard is confiscated, moved to Pretoria Zoo

The male cub, weighing just under 17 kilograms, is estimated to be between four and six-months-old

  • Akheel Sewsunker
3 min read
African grey parrots are one of the most heavily trafficked birds in the world. (Photo by: Auscape/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
AFRICA

Online sales drive illegal trade in endangered African grey parrots

The birds, which are native to equatorial Africa, have been decimated by the international pet trade

  • Sheree Bega
6 min read
Rats assemble: Two nonprofits are training African giant pouched rats to detect smuggled contraband in shipping containers. (Photo courtesy of APOPO)
APOPO

African rats are being used to sniff out wildlife crime

Two nonprofits are training African giant pouched rats to detect smuggled contraband in shipping containers

  • Sheree Bega
8 min read
A South African Park authority ranger prepares tools to open the carcass of a poached and mutilated white rhino as a South African Police Services forensic investigators collects evidences on the killing September 12, 2014 at Kruger National Park. As investigators comb a scene of a dehorned rhino in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, its horn is likely to have already been smuggled out of the country to Asia, highlighting the extent of organised poaching cartels threatening the endangered species. AFP PHOTO/MARCO LONGARI (Photo by MARCO LONGARI / AFP)
ATTORNEY GENERAL ALLIANCE AFRICA

Direct jail sentences a win in fight against South Africa’s illegal wildlife trade

Collaboration between the various state agencies and specialist prosecutors are needed to break the illicit value chain of wildlife trafficking

  • Sheree Bega
6 min read
Pangolins at the Johannesburg Wildlife Veterinary Hospital NPC which specialises in the treatment and rehabilitation of indigenous wildlife
ABALONE

Following the wildlife traffickers’ money

The illegal wildlife trade is one of the most profitable criminal enterprises worldwide, but only recently has the focus shifted to investigating its financial flows

  • Sheree Bega
5 min read