Dutch Gorilla Foundation -
  • NL
  • EN
  • We support
  • Gorillas
  • Get Involved
  • Contact
  • About us
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • Adopt
  • Donate
Short content (telephone, email ...)
  • EN
  • NL
  • Contact
  • About us
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • Adopt
  • Donate
Dutch Gorilla Foundation -
NL EN We support Gorillas Get Involved Contact About us Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Instagram Adopt Donate
  • We support
  • Gorillas
  • Get Involved

Adoption

Donation

VIEW THE PROJECT

Wildlife law enforcement

In the past a hunter went into the forest to catch one or two animals at the most. Now cars are driving in this same forest using roads made for commercial logging. The more permits are issued for timber companies; the more roads are built in the forest. Hunters now have free reign. Many African employees of logging companies earn a decent extra penny from hunting for bushmeat. A hunter can get forty dollar for a smoked gorilla, which for many Africans is more than a month’s salary. And the twenty dollars for a chimpanzee is also extremely welcome. The hunting also leads to the capture of orphaned gorillas and chimpanzees. Many of these orphans are sold for big money and end up in the Middle East or Asia through the illegal pet trade.

Organized crime

The threat to the African apes and other wildlife has increased dramatically in recent years. This is certainly true for most elephants and rhinos. This is due to large-scale poaching, organized networks and illegal trade. Although national laws and international conventions protect endangered species on paper, enforcement of these laws is very weak. The main reason for the lack of enforcement and implementation of wildlife laws in Africa is widespread corruption. Judges are bribed and poachers and middlemen are redeemed while they are in custody. Of course, that’s not the way it should be! There has to be a clear risk of increased penalties or imprisonment for carrying out this illegal trade. Otherwise the illegal wildlife will keep on thriving.

As a result, illegal trade and the associated large-scale massacres are sadly common practice. Today the illegal wildlife trade is ranked the fifth most lucrative transnational crime after drugs, human trafficking, oil smuggling and counterfeiting of money. It is estimated to be worth between 7-10 billion dollars each year! The great apes remain threatened by illegal trade, but for elephants and rhinos it’s almost too late. A recent study showed that about 100,000 elephants were slain for their tusks between 2010 and 2012 throughout Africa.

Wildlife traffickers are part of well-organized international criminal organizations. They often participate in other illegal activities such as drugs and arms, and sometimes have links to terrorist networks. While the international media focuses on poachers, these smugglers often remain out of sight and they continue virtually unpunished.

LAGA – One major trafficker jailed every week

If we want to prevent the great apes from going extinct, then we urgently have to improve the enforcement of the laws in Africa. The Dutch Gorilla Foundation therefore supports the unique method of Last Great Ape Organisation (LAGA). LAGA succeeds as one of few organizations, to get the wildlife traders prosecuted and behind bars and tackle high-level corruption.

LAGA is the first Wildlife Law Enforcement nonprofit organization in Africa. It was founded in 2002 to fight the illegal trade in ivory, chimpanzees and gorillas in Cameroon. LAGA has a unique approach with a focus on research, field operations (leading to arrests), legal aid and the use of media. The organization has since expanded into a regional network of satellite programs in Guinea, Senegal, Togo, Benin, Congo, Gabon, Central African Republic and Uganda. From 2006, every week a major illegal wildlife dealer has been arrested, around 87% of these are behind bars from the moment of arrest with no bail granted.

LAGA’s activities:

  • Investigation – Investigators, undercover agents and informers gather precise information. This way dealers in meat and products of threatened species can be arrested in the act, producing concrete evidence for the courts.
  • Operations – LAGA technically assists MINFOF and the Forces of Law and Order to arrest violators and to channel complaint reports to the courts. LAGA closely supervises operations in the field.
  • Legal Assistance – LAGA created a legal team to assist in the administrative procedures of prosecuting wildlife cases in the courts of Cameroon.
  • Media – LAGA puts newsflashes into national TV news, national radio news and written press on the successes of the operations and positive court rulings. The Cameroonian media informs the public that the law is actively enforced. By doing so they educate the public on the change, increasing deterrent, and classification of the illegal trade in endangered wildlife as criminal.

Support wildlife law enforcement

Would you like to join our fight against the illegal trade in gorillas and other wildlife? Support LAGA! A unique organization that ensures that the wildlife laws are enforced in Central Africa.

Are you convinced and do you want to support LAGA? Click here!

Previous Project
Gorilla Rehabilitation
Next Project
Scientific Research

Related project

Mission, Vision and Goals

About us
Mission, Vision and Goals

Board

About us
Board

Reports

About us
Reports

Sign up to our newsletter

Get Involved

Every donation – no matter how big or small – makes a difference in the lives of the gorillas.

Donate


Adopt a gorilla

Like us on Facebook

Facebook Pagelike Widget

Follow us on Twitter

Tweets by @https://twitter.com/protectgorillas

Contact us

The goal of the Dutch Gorilla Foundation is to ensure the conservation and (where necessary ) restoration of the gorilla population and their habitat in Central Africa.

+ 31 (0) 6 12 61 41 64
info@gorillafoundation.nl
www.gorillafoundation.nl

Bankaccount Dutch Gorilla Foundation:
IBAN: NL19 SNSB 0926 4987 11
BIC/Swift: SNSBNL2A

RSIN (identification nr.) : 855559019
Chamber of Commerce nr. : 64189244
GORILLA STICHTING NEDERLAND
© Gorillastichting.Nederland 2016 Disclaimer Privacyverklaring