Ofir Drori

He is the founder of LAGA – the Last Great Ape Organisation, an enforcement non-governmental organization that fights corruption in order to bring about to the arrests and prosecutions of major wildlife criminals dealing in endangered animal species. LAGA's award-winning model for a wildlife law enforcement NGO has started in Cameroon{{Cite web |title=Fighting wildlife crime and corruption: an interview with Ofir Drori |url=https://wilder-mag.com/featured-articles/fighting-wildlife-crime-and-corruption-an-interview-with-ofir-drori |access-date=2023-08-17 |website=Wilder Magazine |language=en-GB}} and is now replicated in the Republic of the Congo,{{Cite web |title=PALF |url=http://palf-enforcement.org/ |access-date=2023-08-17 |language=fr-FR}} Gabon,{{Cite web |title=Conservation Justice |url=http://www.conservation-justice.org/fr/ |access-date=2023-08-17 |website=conservationjustice.org |language=fr-FR}} Togo,{{Cite web |date=2024-10-29 |title=EAGLE Togo – EAGLE Togo – Eco Activists for Governance and Law Enforcement |url=https://www.eagle-togo.org/ |access-date=2024-11-30 |language=en-US}} Ivory Coast,{{Cite web |date=2022-11-22 |title=EAGLE Côte d'Ivoire contre le trafic d'espèces animales |url=https://www.eagle-ivorycoast.org/ |access-date=2023-08-17 |language=fr-FR}} Senegal,{{Cite web |title=EAGLE Sénégal – Lutte contre la criminalité faunique |url=https://eagle-senegal.org/ |access-date=2023-08-17 |website=eagle-senegal.org}} Uganda{{Cite web |date=2021-11-16 |title=EAGLE Uganda – Eco Activists for Governance and Law Enforcement |url=https://www.eagle-uganda.org/ |access-date=2023-08-17 |language=en-GB}} and Guinea.

In 2005, based on the experience of fighting corruption in the judiciary and the forces of law and order,{{Cite web |last=Souza |first=Nadia de |date=2015-10-04 |title=Hidden cameras, prosecutions, and passion: confronting the corruption at the heart of Africa’s illegal wildlife trade |url=https://news.mongabay.com/2015/10/hidden-cameras-prosecutions-and-passion-confronting-the-corruption-at-the-heart-of-africas-illegal-wildlife-trade/ |access-date=2024-11-30 |website=Mongabay Environmental News |language=en-US}} he has founded another NGO, called Anti Corruption in Cameroon, or AC–Cameroon,{{Cite web |title=AC – Anti-corruption Cameroon |url=https://www.kick-corruption.org/ |access-date=2023-08-17 |language=en-US}} which focuses on establishing Anti-Corruption law enforcement in Cameroon, and involving citizens in the fight against corruption through direct legal action.{{Cite news|url=http://www.conservationmagazine.org/2010/12/confronting-corruption/|title=Confronting Corruption - Conservation|date=2010-12-08|work=Conservation|access-date=2017-03-22|language=en-US}}

Drori is a co-founder of The EAGLE Network.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thedodo.com/when-eagles-dare-ofir-droris-mission-to-tackle-wildlife-trafficking-in-1227685027.html|title=When Eagles Dare: Ofir Drori's Mission To Tackle Wildlife Trafficking in Africa|last=Taus|first=Justin|date=2015-07-02|work=The Dodo|access-date=2017-03-22|language=en}}

In December 2013, Drori was attacked by a 3-meter long Nile crocodile while vacationing along the Omo River in Ethiopia, but he managed to escape death.{{Cite web |title=BBC World Service - Outlook, My Fight for Life after Croc Attack |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03py53l |access-date=2023-08-17 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}} Despite his injuries Drori was able to survive in the wilderness for two days and reach tribesmen and eventually was evacuated to hospital in Addis Ababa, and then to a hospital in Israel.{{Cite web |title=Award-winning Israeli wildlife conservationist survives Ethiopian crocodile attack |url=https://www.jpost.com/enviro-tech/award-winning-israeli-wildlife-conservationist-survives-ethiopian-crocodile-attack-337546 |access-date=2023-08-17 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |language=en-US}} This incident is reminiscent of Australian eco-activist Val Plumwood who also survived a crocodile attack in 1985, and she subsequently wrote of it in her landmark 1996 essay "Being Prey".

In 2012 he was awarded the prestigious World Wildlife Fund Duke of Edinburgh Conservation Medal for his work.{{Cite web |title=Champion wildlife crime opponent awarded top WWF honours |url=https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?206508/Champion-wildlife-crime-opponent-awarded-top-WWF-honours |access-date=2023-08-17 |website=wwf.panda.org |language=en}} He also received the Interpol Ecomessage Award, The Clark Bavin Enforcement award{{Cite web|url=http://www.ssn.org/aboutus_awards_2007_EN.htm|title=Species Survival Network|website=www.ssn.org|access-date=2017-03-22}} and the Condé Nast Traveler Environment Award for his work, as well as the Future For Nature Award{{Cite web|url=http://futurefornature.org/winners/ofir-drori/|title=Ofir Drori - Award winner 2011 - Future For Nature|website=futurefornature.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-03-22}} and the Shining World Compassion Award.{{Cite web|url=http://www.godsdirectcontact.org.tw/eng/news/194/aw_46.htm|title=Ofir Drori - Champion Saving Endangered Species|website=www.godsdirectcontact.org.tw|access-date=2017-03-22}}

Drori co-wrote The Last Great Ape: A Journey Through Africa and a Fight for the Heart of the Continent{{Cite book |last=Drori |first=Ofir |title=The Last Great Ape: A Journey Through Africa and a Fight for the Heart of the Continent |publisher=Pegasus Books |year=2012 |isbn=978-1605983271}} with David McDannald.

{{Reflist|refs=}}

• [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6702113.stm 'Man in black' fights for Cameroon apes] Man in Black Fights, BBC News, June 15, 2007
• [http://www.allafrica.com/stories/200604060766.html Cameroon: Fight Against Wildlife Criminals Formalised] allAfrica.com, March 2007
• [http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3091315.stm Jail for Cameroon chimp trafficker] BBC News, July 25, 2003
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160608124953/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/06/ofir-drori-wildlife-corruption-laga/ How Saving One Chimp Led to a New Kind of Anti-Poaching Group], National Geographic, June 2016
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/science/african-conservation-group-with-unusual-mission-enforcement.html?_r=0 African Conservation Group With Unusual Mission: Enforcement], The New York Times, October 2015
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ODViQakthY Tedx Ede 2016]

• [http://www.laga-enforcement.org/ LAGA - The Last Great Ape Organization]
• [http://www.eagle-enforcement.org/ EAGLE Network]

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Category:Israeli activists

Category:Living people

Category:1976 births