Hi, I am Cynthia Akwen, the Development Office Assistant for the Last Great Ape Organisation (LAGA). We are a small organisation (less than 15 people) based in Yaounde, Cameroon, and we were set up in 2001 by Israeli aventurer and conservationist Ofir Drori who is still our director. Ofir’s goal was to control the rampant illegal trade in wildlife that plagues Cameroon and most of Central Africa. LAGA is the only wildlife law enforcement NGO in Africa and since we started we have helped to bring about more than 200 prosecutions under national wildlife law – before we started there had not been a single one!
Our work includes investigations to identify dealers and set up fake ‘deals’, assisting government operations to catch the crooks red-handed, providing legal advice and support throughout the prosecution process and publicising this crack-down on wildlife crime through all national media. Ofir and myself are looking forward to bringing you the latest news on our achievements in all these areas over the weeks and months that follow. We have had some amazing successes in the past, often in the face of persoanl threats and intense corruption, and we plan to have more…
