By the stroke of a legislative pen, a list of iconic and in some cases endangered wild animals can now be manipulated as farming stock. What happens next is anyone’s guess… writes Don Pinnock. Lions, cheetahs, rhinos and zebras were among 33 wild species which became farm animals as of May this year when the […]

Animal Rights campaigners have expressed outrage and “heartbreak” at the news that today more than 30 wild-caught baby elephants – held captive for nearly a year in Hwange National Park – have been flown out of Zimbabwe, via Victoria Falls Airport, to Chinese zoos. Army trucks allegedly moved in despite campaigners’ legal effort. Humane Society […]

GABORONE – More than 100 elephants have died in Botswana in the past two months partly because of a suspected anthrax outbreak, the government said on Tuesday. “Preliminary investigations suggest the elephants are dying from anthrax whilst some died from drought effects,” a Department of Wildlife and National Parks statement said. “Due to the severe […]

HARARE – At least 55 elephants have died in a game park in western Zimbabwe since September from starvation caused by a severe drought, the wildlife agency said on Monday. Zimparks spokesman Tinashe Farawo said the animals had died near water holes dotted around the Hwange National Park, a sign that they had traveled long […]

The South African National Parks (SANParks) today announced three successful operations in the Kruger National Park (KNP), where six suspected poachers were arrested since the beginning of October 2019. During the operations, three heavy calibre hunting rifles were confiscated and the majority of suspects were thankfully arrested before shooting any animals. In the same period, […]

After almost two years of disputes between various stakeholders over the presence of African Wild Dogs in Tembe Elephant Park in South Africa, the park is once again home to a free-roaming pack… wrties Tamlyn Jolly from the Zululand Observer. While the original, 14-strong pack of dogs was relocated to a nearby game reserve – […]

An elephant that had a tyre around its neck is walking free this week thanks to the brave heroics of a team of conservationists at Victoria Falls. The incident took place at Matetsi Game Reserve in Zimbabwe which was this week voted as one of the Top 30 Resorts in Africa, in the Condé Nast […]

The 17th Annual Penguin Festival was held today in Simon’s Town, South Africa, with the famous penguin release at 10h00. Nigel Riley was there to capture these gorgeous photos. Nigel said: “Under blue skies and a enthusiastic crowd SANCOBB released eight rehabilated penguins at Seaforth Beach Simon’s Town this morning.” SANCCOB (the Southern African Foundation […]

GAUTENG – A 34-year-old man was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport, after being found in possession of 12 boxes of lion bones. According to the South African Police Service (SAPS), Members of the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime unit, Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) SWAT unit and Crime Intelligence intercepted a suspicious consignment on Tuesday. […]

Nadav Ossendryver, the young YouTuber from Glenhazel, who has taken wildlife spotting to a whole new level with his channel Latest Sightings – Kruger, has just become the first South African to receive over one BILLION views on his YouTube channel. Without much fuss or fanfare, his Facebook Page yesterday posted a message saying: “So […]

CAPE TOWN – Bringing local communities into mainstream conservation was vital to South African efforts aimed at curbing rhino poaching that has steadily declined from a peak of 1,215 animals killed five years ago, the environmental minister said on Sunday. South Africa, with one of the world’s largest rhino populations, is battling organised crime syndicates […]

A group of South African friends, who had been holidaying in Mozambique, were shocked by the size of an African Rock Python they spotted on the way home to KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). Watch below. Charles Southwood from Ballito told SAPeople they estimate the snake was around 4 metres long! Charles said: “There were 15 of us, […]

The captain and crew of a submarine in Simon’s Town, South Africa, got a shock a few days ago as they left their naval base… when a giant humpback whale showed its interest by spectacularly breaching right in front of them! Trace Photography ZA captured these once-in-a-lifetime photos. The 30 ton fully grown 16m whale […]

What started 14 years ago as an annual weekly event to get South Africans to visit the country’s 19 main national parks for free for a day has just finished its latest season, with well over 113,000 – double the figure for 2018 – taking advantage of the offer. SA National Parks Week, which ran […]

Tanzania has flown in nine black rhinos to its Serengeti national park from South Africa as part of efforts to restore its population of the critically endangered species. Rampant poaching during the 1960s and 1970s in the Serengeti, famed for its sweeping planes and Africa’s most spectacular wildebeest migration, devastated the population of rare east African black […]

LONDON – Two female penguins are set to raise the first “gender neutral” chick, a London aquarium said on Wednesday, the latest same-sex penguin parents to take a furry baby under their wings. Rocky and Marama, who have been together for six breeding seasons, have adopted a four-month-old Gentoo chick that will be classified as […]

Tanzania has seized ivory tusks equivalent to killing at least 117 elephants, its tourism minister said, part of its drive to stamp out organised criminal networks involved in years of industrial-scale poaching. The elephant population in Tanzania, famed for its wildlife reserves, shrank from 110,000 in 2009 to barely 43,000 in 2014, according to a 2015 census, […]

In fantastic news for wildlife conservationists – and for rhinos and lions – the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve in the Cradle of Humankind, South Africa, announced today that it will no longer be offering cub petting to the public, with immediate effect. The Reserve has been popular with local and international tourists for 30 years […]

One of Cape Town’s local baboons made itself totally at home at a restaurant in a South African vineyard last weekend, tucking into not just one, but two large bowls of spaghetti bolognese… with some garlic bread to top it off! According to witnesses, the baboon strolled up to a table at the restaurant last […]

A terrified community in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa, has been reassured that the government is fixing damaged fences to protect them from wildlife attacks, while it has sadly been revealed that 12 of 13 escaped lions have died. One is still on the loose, terrorising the community while game rangers try to track it down. […]

The Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) today agreed to protect giraffes for the first time by listing the species on Appendix II, which will now regulate international trade in giraffe parts (which occurs in South Africa), such as hides, bones and meat. Today’s decision now […]

Conservationists and some African countries (not South Africa) have this week called on the international community to urgently help prevent the risk of a “silent extinction” of the African giraffe which lives in SA and other countries across the continent. The call came yesterday at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in […]

Three rhino poachers in South Africa have been successfully convicted and sentenced at the Skukuza Regional Court on charges related to rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park (KNP). Jeffrey Mathebula was arrested in 2015 and convicted of trespassing in a national park. He was this last week fined R10 000.00 or two years imprisonment […]

The first vote at the 18th meeting of the CITES Conference of the Parties has delivered a historic win for African elephants to end the cruel practice of removing live elephants from the wild for export to captive facilities. CITES is the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Iris Ho, senior wildlife specialist […]

Judgment was handed down in the Pretoria High Court, South Africa, today regarding the controversial lion bone export quotas from South Africa. The Court ruled in favour of the NSPCA, finding that the setting – by the Minister of Environmental Affairs – of the annual quotas in 2017 and 2018 was unlawful, constitutionally invalid, and […]