The Chimp Who Sent a Thousand Traffickers to Jail
The rescue of this orphaned chimp from the poachers who’d killed his family sparked the founding of Ofir's organization, The Last Great Ape, now a branch of the Eagle Network, which under Ofir's leadership has sent thousands of wildlife traffickers and ivory dealers to jail. The story began with the chimp bound by rope in the poacher’s kitchen, showing the trauma of his capture and isolation in his expression.
The poacher walks Future outside to display him in the sunlight as though to sell him to Ofir, who is posing as a buyer.
The men, including the head poacher, pictured here in colorful clothes, did not seem to realize the near-humanity in the nature of a chimp. (For those of you who send emails related to stopping the cruelty shown in this photograph: that’s what the story of Future and the organization he inspired are about.)
Notice the filth of his fingers.
On the following day, Ofir returned to the house of the poacher, who believed that he had come to buy the chimp. Ofir asked the poacher and his associates/friends to sit at the table. They did. Ofir removed from his backpack a copy of the Cameroonian constitution and pointed at the place for them to read. The document states that anyone in possession of a class A endangered species, whole or in part, can be fined and imprisoned. The poacher looked up, confused. Ofir said, “I know that until yesterday, you could get around this law for a $3 bribe. But my job is to enforce the law, and right now a van is on the way to your house to arrest you.” The poacher looked stunned. “Perhaps, because you have been kind to me and brought me into your home, there is something I can do for you. If you give me the chimp, maybe I can get the van to turn around.” The poacher said, “Yes. Please, take him and see what you can do.” All of this was a bluff. In the instant Ofir took possession of Future, the chimp went from acting like a rat to acting like a baby. And he clamped down on Ofir’s nipple through his shirt. In the capital, he sneaked the chimp, still despondent, into a hotel room.
The shelters in the capital informed Ofir that they would not take Future in. Ofir left the chimp for hours at a time at the zoo so that he could begin building his organization. Future was so distraught by the cage that he banged his face against the bars, the cuts from which are visible around his eyes.
Ofir got an apartment on the edge of the rainforest in the capital in part so he could raise the chimp himself. Here is Future, happy and healthy, in the months before a space opened for him in a jungle sanctuary.
Future, years later, now lives with other chimps and has minimal contact with humans. This photograph was taken before Ofir left him for the second to last time.
Because Ofir knew he could make a difference, not just in the life of this one chimp, but in the plight of endangered species in general, he saw it as his responsibility.