Friendly Beasts, Day 13: The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International

http://gorillafund.org/

In the 1960s, Dian Fossey agreed to take on a long-term field study of the mountain gorilla while on a six-week sabbatical in Africa.  While she had originally changed her major at San Jose State College (my alma mater!) to occupational therapy, she was always interested in animals, and an increasing desire to visit Africa lead to a meeting with Dr. Louis Leakey, one that would change the course of her life.  Despite disease, torrential rains, the danger from poachers, and the civil unrest in the areas in which she studied, her perseverance paid off when an adult male gorilla touched her hand.  It was the first recorded instance of peaceful gorilla-human contact.

In 1992, the name of the organization was changed from the Digit Fund to its currently known identity in an effort to underscore the mission of its founder: the conservation and research of the mountain gorilla and its habitat.  The work and study they have done is reflected in the fact that the mountain gorillas of the Virungas region are the only great ape population to have actually grown in number instead of decline.

Since Fossey's death, the fund has expanded to include protections of gorillas in other parts of Africa, as well as other endangered species in those habitats.  As the research continues, the fund also works with local villages and communities to teach them the value of preserving and protecting this natural environment.  This has lead, among other things, to a group of tribal leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo to donate their ancestral lands for the purposes of establishing a type of national park, with the protections this includes, while allowing those tribes to retain management control of their lands.

While it may seem to be "just" an issue of preserving a particular animal on the surface, the preservation of these gorillas helps to ensure the preservation of the balance in a very delicate ecosystem.  In this time of global climate concerns, helping the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International is about more than saving the great ape--it's about saving us all.

To find out more about this organization, visit the Web site listed above, or find them on Facebook by searching "Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International".  They are also on Twitter (@SavingGorillas).