There’s something deeply distressing about the most powerful and beautiful cat in the world staring vacantly from behind bars or a diamond mesh fence. A farmed tiger is really not a tiger at all, but an assembly of marketable parts awaiting export. In South Africa, on industrial-scale farms, hundreds can expect that fate.

The South African Predators Association (Sapa) is fighting tooth and nail to reopen the controversial lion bone industry in the country.

The polarised debate between anti- and pro-trophy hunting advocates is almost invariably incendiary and centred around far-reaching claims and emotional responses, from whether or not recreational hunting benefits specific species to its impact on local economies.

People often underestimate the impact of what we eat on everything from climate change to land use, biodiversity loss, water use, and pollution.

A new study shows the local hunting industry’s important economic footprint.

A South African university launched an anti-poaching campaign Thursday to inject the horns of rhinos with radioactive isotopes that it says are harmless for the animals but which can be detected by customs agents.

The classification of giraffes has proved surprisingly contentious over the past few decades.

Wildlife ranchers have accused Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Dion George of “hiding behind a process of his own making” by failing to set and allocate annual trophy hunting quotas for African elephants, black rhinos and leopards. 

Over the past few days, while there was speculation on whether Dion George should be replaced as the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, the Daily Maverick published two articles, one by Adam Cruise and the other by Don Pinnock; both within hours of each other arguing why Dion George shouldn’t be replaced.

Tracking collars have revolutionised the amount of information available to wildlife researchers since their introduction in the 1960s. The benefits are enormous, but naturally, researchers need to ensure minimal cost to the animal’s welfare.

South Africa has a thriving wildlife economy – enterprises like trophy and meat hunting, ecotourism, live wildlife sales and game meat production.

In the fishing villages along Lake Kariba in northern Zimbabwe, near the border with Zambia, everyday routines that should be ordinary – like collecting water, walking to the fields or casting a fishing net – now carry a quiet, ever-present fear.

African lions have declined sharply over the last century, losing most of their historical range.

If you’ve watched a giraffe browsing in the tree canopy, a white rhino meandering across open grassland or a warthog shuffling around on its knees in South Africa’s Kalahari desert, you know what they eat: leaves, grass, shoots and roots. With every mouthful, they swallow something less obvious – soil.

Fences intended to protect cattle from catching diseases from wildlife and other livestock in southern Africa are in disrepair, restrict wild animal migrations and likely intensify human-elephant conflict – but a plan to remove key sections could make both livestock and wildlife safer, a new Cornell study suggests. 

‘Stark warning’: pesticide harm to wildlife rising globally, study finds-Toxicity from farm chemicals increased for most species groups between 2013 and 2019, with insects worst affected.

A change of minister has brought a sudden return to trophy export quotas for endangered black rhinos, elephants and leopards, prompting sharp criticism from former minister Dion George and renewed scrutiny of how hunting decisions are made – and for whose benefit.

Africa’s wildlife is doing far less ecological work than it once did. A new study suggests that the decline of birds and mammals – and in particular megafauna such as elephants – is reshaping how ecosystems function.

South African conservation groups, including the Wildlife Animal Protection Forum South Africa (WAPFSA), have strongly opposed the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment's (DFFE) proposed CITES export quotas for trophy hunting of elephants, black rhinos, and leopards in 2026 and 2027.