During 2017, a total of 502 alleged rhino poachers and 16 alleged traffickers were arrested nationally bringing the total figure to 518. This represents a decrease from 2016 when a total of 680 poachers and traffickers were arrested. Arrests within the Greater Kruger National Park itself did however increase in 2017. The number of arrests...Read More
On 31 December 2017, the ban on legal ivory trade in China, which represents the world’s largest market for ivory, finally came into effect! This is the greatest single step toward reducing the brutal poaching which kills on average 100 elephants every day in Africa. Until recently South Africa had escaped ivory poachers trying to cash-in...Read More
Climate predictability has become more difficult to assess over recent years due to continued climate change on a large scale. Rainfall data visualisations show that 2017 was one of the driest years recorded in the history of the Lowveld, as well as some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded in decades. The recent drought in...Read More
A powerful new weapon to our counter-poaching arsenal are the new formidable pack dogs, trained and housed at the Southern African Wildlife College K9 unit. These dogs are set to be the new game changer in the war against poaching and have already had a considerable impact in this role. Johan van Straaten, dog-master and...Read More
Day 1: We were called to assist with a SANParks operation. Field rangers had detected incoming spoor on their eastern Mozambique border. The SANParks helicopter picked up the section ranger, our dog master and our pack dogs. It was estimated that the track was nine hours old. The dogs picked up the tracks and followed...Read More
The last quarter has been incredibly busy for the Academic team. At this time of the year, we focus on the arrival of our higher education students and of course, staff development. In January, our Dog Master, Johan van Straaten, Altin Gysman and Ruan de Flamingh, our new Field Ranger training instructors successfully completed their...Read More
