Africa’s pangolins caught in ‘the perfect storm’
Recent seizures of huge amounts of scales have turned Nigeria into Africa’s key illegal pangolin exporting country. Alexis Kriel investigates what is driving the trade...
06 May, 2019
CITES Inside Track
A dark battle to save pangolins
South African pioneers are inventing ways to save casualties of the world’s biggest wildlife crime, reports Louise de Bruin...
04 Dec, 2018
Time for Africa to head CITES
Most of the work of the international wildlife trade body focuses on endangered species in Africa, say pro-sustainable use groups...
13 Feb, 2018
Business as usual for rhinos
The hunting of a rhino by a Vietnamese client with the ‘Musina Mafia’ set the tone for the treatment of the endangered species at CITES CoP17, writes Yolandi Groenewald...
05 Oct, 2016
Namibia diaries: the good, the bad, the ugly
Depending on your views about legal trade in wildlife products, the past week was either a good week or a very good week for Namibian conservation, writes John Grobler...
04 Oct, 2016
Ivory’s double-edged sword at CITES
What do the CITES decisions mean for Southern Africa's elephants – and in particular, the world-famous Kruger National Park, where CITES has documented a 23% rise in elephant poaching? Yolandi...
04 Oct, 2016
Grey area: The illicit parrot trade and SA’s captive-breeding industry
South Africa has no wild grey parrots, yet it is the world’s biggest exporter of the popular endangered birds. Kimon de Greef exposes the role of the breeders in calls...
29 Sep, 2016
South Africa’s scaly trade in pangolins
An undercover investigation exposes South Africa’s growing role in illicit transnational pangolin smuggling. Will the ban on trade by CITES make any difference? Special report by Hazel Friedman & Alexis...
29 Sep, 2016
A mysterious dead hand driving Namibia’s poaching
After a two-year investigation, John Grobler exposes the totem-based networks facilitating transnational rhino horn smuggling and defeating the criminal justice system’s pursuit of suspects...
15 Sep, 2016
The dilemma of Swaziland’s horns
Why did Swaziland submit a last-minute proposal asking CITES to approve an experimental ‘pilot project’ to sell its stockpiled rhino horns? What does this mean for the COP17 conference? Yolandi...
09 Sep, 2016