Disposing of Rhino Horns Recovered from Smugglers, Kruger National Park, South Africa
CONFLICT
AWARENESS
PROJECT
Holding accountable those who fuel war, conflict, and harm to vulnerable communities and the natural world.
Follow The Guns
2019: Follow The Guns: An Overlooked Key To Combat Rhino Poaching and Wildlife Crime
A CAP Report by Kathi Lynn Austin
Four-year, six-country investigation implicates gunrunners and corrupt officials driving rhinos to the brink of extinction.
Join CAP's Executive Director Kathi Lynn Austin as she tracks and traces the guns used to poach Africa's rhinos through their international supply chains.
Time-to-crime and Gun Trafficking
Time-to-crime is a widely used method of determining whether guns were trafficked. It is a measurement of the span of time that elapsed between the point at which a gun was first bought at a gun store and the point at which it was recovered by law enforcement.
Follow the Guns – The Cameraman’s Perspective
CAP's Mission
The Conflict Awareness Project (CAP) is an international non-profit dedicated to investigating, documenting, and bringing to justice major arms traffickers, war profiteering networks, and transnational criminal operations that fuel war, conflict, and natural resource exploitation around the globe.
Support our daily work and help bring major arms traffickers to justice, save lives, and help build a more just and peaceful world.
In The Media
INTERVIEW: Bongani Bingwa speaks to Kathi Lynn Austin, Executive Director of Conflict Awareness and Arms Trafficking investigator
Not much is known about small arms trafficking, a global industry worth billions of dollars that feeds into many criminal syndicates. One woman has been tracking the dangerous network of illegal weapons for over 20 years … and her recent three-year investigation has revealed a huge network of illegal firearms that supply poachers with guns in the Kruger.
Published Jun 25, 2018 2:30 AM
GUNS AND RHINOS
by Kathi Lynn Austin
published June 24, 2018 in The South Africa Sunday Times
Promos for the Follow The Guns Report
A special report tracks and traces the guns recovered from rhino poaching – all the way back to their manufacturers and dealers – to unmask the real masterminds behind South Africa’s rhino killing fields.
An investigation spanning three continents into transnational gun supply to Africa uncovers new evidence into the real masterminds behind the rhino poaching trade.
Follow The Guns Co-producer, Sasha Wein, wins 2018 Environmental Award
Follow The Guns was Co-Produced by Kathi Lynn Austin and features her journey exposing the gunrunners behind the mass slaughter of South Africa's rhinos. For her work on the story, Sasha Wein was awarded the Video Media Award at the 2018 SAB Environmental Media Awards held in Johannesburg on October 23, 2018. Follow The Guns first aired on Africa's premiere current affairs show, Carte Blanche, in June 2018. CAP congratulates Sasha and thanks the entire Carte Blanche team for their passionate effort to help publicly expose hard truths behind South Africa's rhino crisis.
READ THE SOUTH AFRICAN ARTICLE
Rhino are being killed at an alarming rate. Conflict Awareness Project believes stopping the flow of guns to the region could help conserve the species.
Dear CAP followers, rhino protectors, and friends,
At last, our three-year, six country investigation into the gunrunners behind the mass slaughter of rhinos will be unveiled. We unmask the key players and sound a wake-up call: Hunting rifles are now a tool of violent organized crime, and unless conservation agencies and counter-poaching forces come to grips with the poachers’ guns, the rhino will lose the battle for survival and face inevitable extinction within a decade.
On Sunday, 24 June, Carte Blanche, the premiere African current affairs program, will broadcast our intrepid investigative journey in a four-part TV documentary on MNET. Follow The Guns, is produced by Kathi Lynn Austin and Sasha Schwendenwein.
A special report tracks and traces the guns recovered from rhino poaching – all the way back to their manufacturers and dealers – to unmask the real masterminds behind South Africa’s rhino killing fields.
An investigation spanning three continents into transnational gun supply to Africa uncovers new evidence into the real masterminds behind the rhino poaching trade.
Look for our CAP report this coming week, Follow The Guns: The Key to Unmasking The Masterminds Behind Rhino Poaching. Follow us on our website and social media platforms to track international attention to our big reveals.
I am also writing to ask that you please spread the message and help us generate a world-wide public response and the political will for urgent action. With the poaching of over a thousand rhinos a year for seven years in a row-- clearly rhino protection efforts are in dire need of a boost. I believe if we act together, we can curtail illegal guns and prevent the extinction of the world’s wild rhinos.
Thank you so much for your active participation!
Best wishes,
Kathi Lynn Austin
CAP Executive Director
PS: Thanks to those who have helped us along the way. You know who you are.