Botswana has reinstated trophy hunting after a 5-year moratorium on the practice. In the wake of evidently declining wildlife numbers, former president Ian Khama imposed the ban in early 2014. Elephant numbers had plummeted by 15% in the preceding decade. The hunting industry had been granted a total quota of between 420 and 800 elephants […]

GAUTENG – A 38-year-old man is expected to appear before the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court today, Thursday 23 May, for alleged illegal possession of rhino horns valued at a substantial amount of money, according to the South African Police Service (SAPS). The Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation unit apprehended the suspect at OR Tambo International […]

Pilanesberg National Park has made the heartbreaking announcement that an abandoned rhino calf they rescued has sadly passed away on Tuesday morning. The little rhino became a viral sensation after it was found by a ranger on Sunday, Mother’s Day in South Africa, and survived through the night. Pilanesberg supporters raised money and their hopes […]

South African National Parks (SANParks) and conservation partners in the Greater Kruger Region have begun the drastic step of dehorning select rhinos to counter the devastating effects of rhino poaching. SANParks said they are working together with conservation partners to implement an “integrated wildlife management approach”, which includes the dehorning of rhino cows in the […]

Across the world, migratory animals like wildebeest – which rely on movement to find food, water and calving grounds – are under threat. This is mainly because their migration routes are being cut off by fences, settlements, farms, roads and other developments, and the areas where they roam are getting smaller. The animals also face […]

The Hawks’ South African Serious Organised Crime unit dealt a blow to the rhino trade on Friday when it intercepted a major horn consignment destined for Malaysia, coming just two days after the SA National Parks (SANParks) arrested a high profile poaching suspect who was a former SANParks ranger. R38 million worth of rhino horns […]

The NSPCA has laid criminal charges against Jan Steinman, a lion farmer in North West, for several contraventions of the Animal Protection Act after 108 lions, caracal, tigers and leopards were found in filthy and parasitic conditions. Inspectors of the National Council of SPCAs (NSPCA) found 27 lions with severe mange, two lion cubs unable […]

A video revealing the horrific practices within South Africa’s captive-bred lion industry has been posted by UK businessman, philanthropist and former Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party, Lord Ashcroft. The industry – known also as “canned lion hunting” – is fuelled often by unknowing local and foreign tourists. After commissioning a year-long investigation, codenamed Operation […]

South Africa’s ‘little’ rhino horn film with a huge message has won one of the world’s top wildlife prizes. The groundbreaking South African film, STROOP – journey into the rhino horn war, which local distributors declined to take on because they didn’t think it would attract enough of an audience, continues to blaze on the […]

Guests on holiday at Giant’s Castle in the Drakensberg, South Africa, were treated to a spectacular ‘clash of the Titans’ scene this weekend as Cape Vultures and Bearded Vultures rushed in to eat, and to chase off a jackal trying to get in on the mountain action. Check out the spectacular photos by Paul Labuschagne, […]

Visitors to the Kruger National Park in South Africa made a lucky escape when an elephant, which had been feeding next to the side of the road, suddenly decided to charge them. Fortunately there were no cars behind them BUT the gravel road was “extremely slippery” as it had been raining, so reversing was a […]

Watch below as a brave buffalo avoids becoming lunch, by escaping both a crocodile and lions. The scene took place at Transport Dam in the Kruger National Park, the same spot where the epic ‘Battle at Kruger’ was filmed over a decade ago in 2007 (and resulted in one of the most viral videos ever […]

SINGAPORE – Singapore intercepted a second shipping container packed full of pangolin scales destined for Vietnam in less than a week, authorities said on Wednesday, a combined haul that set a new record for the global transit hub, and has conservationists worried that the most trafficked animal in the world is hurtling towards extinction. The […]

An American woman and her driver are still missing after having been kidnapped at Uganda’s most popular wildlife park by four gunmen demanding a ransom of $500,000, according to local police. (UPDATE: American tourist and driver, kidnapped in Uganda, rescued!) Businesswoman and beautician Kimberley Sue Endecott, 35, and Ugandan driver Jean Paul were on a […]

Kruger National Park (KNP) rangers have helped a family reach  closure in South Africa by recovering the remains of their relative, a suspected poacher who was killed by an elephant and then allegedly eaten by a pride of lions. With the help of the South African Police Service (SAPS) in Komatipoort and Skukuza, the rangers […]

Scientists have unearthed fossils in a coastal desert of southern Peru of a four-legged whale that thrived both in the sea and on land about 43 million years ago in a discovery that illuminates a pivotal stage in early cetacean evolution. The 13-foot-long (4-meter) mammal, named Peregocetus pacificus, represents a crucial intermediate step before whales […]

HONG KONG – Hong Kong authorities said they seized 82.5 kilograms of rhino horn and cut pieces worth $2.10 million, the biggest haul in five years, as the Chinese controlled territory tries to tackle growing trafficking in endangered species. The move comes after seizures by Hong Kong earlier this year of 40 kilograms of rhino […]

HOEDSPRUIT, South Africa – Riff Raff, the South African elephant who had faced a possible death sentence for knocking down fences and trampling on farmland, has secured a reprieve after activists intervened, arguing he’s a victim of a human-elephant conflict. Landowners in Hoedspruit near the Kruger National Park had sought a court ruling to have […]

In a victory on the war on rhino poaching, three members of the notorious Ndlovu rhino poaching gang have each been handed a sentence of 25 years imprisonment in South Africa today. (Update 24 Nov ’20: Ndlovu rhino poaching gang to hear judgment on Appeal.) Judge Pickering handed down the sentences at the High Court […]

Just a warning upfront – this video is definitely not for the sensitive. We may all know and understand that animals prey on each other in the wild, and it’s part of the circle of life… but in this particular sighting, what the impala is seen to be enduring is quite upsetting. On the positive […]

Miniaturised frogs form a fascinating but poorly understood group of amphibians. They have been exceptionally prone to taxonomic underestimation because when frogs evolve small body size they start to look remarkably similar – so it is easy to underestimate how diverse they really are. As part of my PhD I have been studying frogs and […]

The world’s leading lion scientists argue that captive predator breeding has no conservation value. Successful reintroduction from captivity into the wild among large felids is extremely rare. Nonetheless, the captive predator breeding industry in South Africa operates on the pretext that reintroduction to the wild is a viable strategy and that it contributes to broader […]

Going on safari in Africa offers tourists the opportunity to see some of the most spectacular wildlife on Earth – including African elephants (Loxodonta africana). Known for their complex social systems, long memory and high intelligence, this species is also threatened by poaching and shrinking habitats, so further disturbance to their precarious existence could have […]

One of South Africa’s finest wildlife photographers – and international expedition leader – Marlon du Toit was a special guest on Monday evening’s The Tonight Show, starring Jimmy Fallon. Watch below as Marlon, who co-owns Wild Eye, describes safaris in Africa and the story behind some of his exquisite photos… including the plight of the […]

Marlon du Toit, one of South Africa’s finest wildlife photographers – and an International Expedition Leader – will be a guest star on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon tonight in the US. (Expats can watch on NBC on Monday evening, while South Africans back home can watch tomorrow on Comedy Central – see details […]