Ofir Drori
Animal Rights Guerilla Activist and Director and Founder of the NGO LAGA, Unternehmertag Charity
Ofir Drori – a fearless fighter for endangered wildlife. Born in Israel in 1976, Ofir Drori arrived to Cameroon in 2002 as a photo-journalist. Shocked by the fate of a tiny chimp baby, orphan from bushmeat poaching, Ofir founded the non-profit organisation LAGA (Last Great Ape organization). Seven months after its creation, LAGA as a small group of local activist volunteers, brought about the first ever wildlife prosecution for the whole of West and Central Africa through fighting corruption. LAGA is credited in shifting Cameroon from a decade long baseline of zero wildlife prosecutions to an arrest and prosecution of a major wildlife dealer in a rate of one per week. This rate was kept stable for the last 8 years as LAGA’s work with the Government of Cameroon has put more than 500 traffickers behind bars.
Following several awards and recommendations from the international community to replicate the model in other countries, LAGA has started working with other NGOs transferring the LAGA experience and model throughout the sub-region. The LAGA model has been replicated and is currently operating in nine countries where it has brought about historical prosecutions: Cameroon (since 2004), Republic of Congo (since 2008), Central African Republic (since 2009), Gabon (since 2010), Guinea (since 2012), Togo (since 2013), Benin (since 2014), Senegal (since 2014) and Uganda (since 2015). LAGA keeps on expending every year.
»Wildlife Protection: Fighting back harder«
