Cheetahs continue to be illegally traded through social media platforms, according to a new analysis published by the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), a non-profit research and lobby organization based in Namibia.

Given the importance of wildlife in South Africa’s tourism industry and its international reputation, it may come as a surprise that the legal protection of wild animals in South Africa is in a state of neglect. 

Poachers poisoned five lions and brutally mutilated one at a South African predator park this week. The horrific incident occurred on Monday night at Akwaaba Predator Park near Rustenburg, some 80 miles west of Johannesburg in the northeast of the country. 

The US is allowing the import of tens of thousands of parts each year from endangered giraffes killed for their skin and bones.

A populations plummet in Africa, investigators discovered that 40,000 pieces of skin and bone from the creatures were imported into America.  

Reports of elephant poaching in Botswana are under the spotlight with various claims in national and international media that the current adverse situation is driven by anti-poaching budget cuts, disarming of anti-poaching units, poachers being spoilt for choice with wildlife finding a safe-haven in the country, and even the trophy hunting ban.

At first, I put it down to the February heat. Somewhere between Graaff-Reinet and Cradock in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, I spotted a pair of Sable Antelope — their elegant scimitar horns unmistakable — grazing next to the road. It’s not uncommon to see springbok or kudu in this otherwise featureless expanse of South Africa’s semi-desert Karoo region, but sable were long a near-endangered species confined to the great wilderness areas. Until now.