For the second consecutive year, South Africa has announced a drop in rhino poaching numbers compared to the previous year. The country lost 1,054 rhino to poaching in 2016, down from 1,175 in 2015 and 1,215 in 2014. While the trend shows movement in the right direction for the country’s rhino, African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) finds that the current rate of poaching, with a rhino killed every eight hours, remains unacceptable.
Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) and Uganda Police Friday raided a palatial home in the suburbs of the capital and arrested three men believed to be dealers in the illegal ivory trade. The law enforcement agents, who were acting on a tip from the Natural Resources Conservation Network, a local non-governmental organization, also seized an estimated 1.5 tons of ivory products during the Friday evening raid.
The world’s most trafficked mammal, the pangolin, is getting much-needed attention on the day before World Pangolin Day, with what may be the world’s first-ever burn of pangolin scales. Cameroon’s Ministry of Forests and Wildlife burned 3,094 kg—approximately 3 tons—of pangolin scales at 11:00 a.m. local time in Yaoundé. Representatives from the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), Africa's oldest and largest conservation organization, attended the event in a show of solidarity.
Habitat loss poses a significant threat to biodiversity and people’s livelihoods in Kenya and beyond. Rapid land conversion, mostly driven by human population expansion, is behind this threat, and current trends demand innovative and long-term solutions to address it.
How is Africa’s wildlife faring? Last year there were a number of significant actions taken on behalf of, and new data released about, many of Africa’s iconic species. What follows is a brief summary of these developments.