Wildlife Crime Won’t Stop Him
After traffickers firebombed his offices, wildlife warrior Héritier Mpo must rebuild his rescue organization.
By PASA Staff
Imagine having your life’s work go up in flames. All your equipment destroyed, detailed records reduced to cinder, headquarters burned to a husk. This is the exact situation that wildlife warrior Héritier Mpo faces. He runs APPACOL-PRN, a small nonprofit fighting wildlife crime, and recently wildlife traffickers firebombed their offices in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Héritier works shoulder to shoulder with PASA members in DR Congo. He has personally rescued many of the apes and monkeys at PASA member centers from wildlife criminals. They need him to restart his courageous efforts to save primates. With law enforcement, he goes deep into the forest to confront wildlife poachers and take back stolen animals, then transports them to sanctuaries, where the loving work of healing can begin.
No animals were hurt in the fire, thankfully, but the building was damaged and all the organization’s equipment and files were destroyed. He and his team are rebuilding their entire operation from scratch. There’s no time to waste in the fight against wildlife crime. Without Héritier to defend them, apes and monkeys continue to be victimized by traffickers.
PASA members in DRC shared stories of his fearlessness in the face of armed poachers, and of the trust he’s able to build almost immediately with terrified apes and monkeys. But illegal wildlife trafficking is a multi-billion dollar industry – the fourth largest form of organized trafficking in the world, behind guns, drugs and humans. Héritier and his team need funding and equipment to stand up for wildlife.
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