The ban on the movement of all cloven-hoofed animals and their products in KwaZulu-Natal has been lifted, except in the Umkhanyakude, uThungulu and Zululand districts.

This comes after serological samples collected during clinical surveillance tested negative for the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in most areas west of the N2.

More than 100 wild animals and plants were seized during a two-month operation aimed at combating cross-border trade in great apes and other wildlife.

KwaZulu-Natal MECs have allayed fears that rural livestock will be killed as a measure to contain the spread of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD).

 
Tsavo National Park - A slowdown in the increase of Kenya's elephant numbers is raising fears among conservationists that hard-fought gains in saving the animals may be reversed amid growing demand for ivory.

An aerial census conducted in the east African country's largest elephant sanctuary last week showed a drop in the population's growth rate from a previously recorded four percent to two percent.

Horrific scenes of mutilated and frozen wild animal carcasses greeted police when they raided a wholesaler dealership and a farm while searching for members of a multi-million-rand theft syndicate outside Pretoria.

The Hawks, wildlife officials and the Green Scorpions made the grisly discovery while searching for the gang members in Ga-Rankuwa.

The Western Cape has lost its first rhino in a poaching incident on a southern Cape private nature reserve.

An adult male white rhino, at the 3000ha Botlierskop Private Game Reserve near Little Brak River between George and Mossel Bay, was drugged at some point during Wednesday night or early Thursday yesterday morning and its horns cut off, leaving the sedated animal to bleed to death.

The Green Scorpions have descended on Mpumalanga's Eskom power stations to inspect the electricity provider's compliance with environmental laws.

Cape Town - France and South Africa have set up a joint laboratory to study the impact of climate change on marine ecosystems in the Indian, Atlantic and southern oceans.

Kenya has recovered 81 elephant tusks in the northern part of the country where it is trying to contain a new wave of poaching, officials said on Saturday.

Weighing 249 kg and valued at 2,5 million shillings ($30 830), the tusks and two rhino horns were recovered by a special team of rangers from the Kenya Wildlife Service and detectives in a Friday night operation.

A wild mare and her foal stranded in the rising and fast-flowing Orange River in Bethulie in the Free State have been saved in a daring rescue by the NSPCA.

Inspector Mike Allen of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' Equine Unit said on Friday the mare and her foal were first seen an estimated 40m below the Hennie Steyn bridge on Sunday night.

“There was no dry land in sight. The width of the water was about 1400m,” he said.

The Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism has sent a warning about a possible renewed poaching onslaught on rhinos during the festive season.

Department spokeperson Joshua Kwapa said statistics showed that illegal rhino hunting increased significantly during the holidays over December and January.

SPCA inspectors raided a warehouse after a tip-off and rescued 22 animals which were found stuffed in cages covered with sheets of black plastic.

At about 1pm yesterday, four SPCA inspectors went to an abandoned warehouse in Stellenberg Road in Parow Industria and found two dogs, 10 cats, seven racing pigeons, two geese and a cockatiel.