Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International

Last updated
The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International in Rwanda The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International.JPG
The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International in Rwanda

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (originally the Digit Fund) is a charity for the protection of endangered mountain gorillas. The Digit Fund was created by Dr. Dian Fossey in 1978 for the sole purpose of financing her anti-poaching patrols and preventing further poaching of the mountain gorillas. Fossey studied at her Karisoke Research Center in the Virunga Volcanoes of Rwanda. The non-profit fund was named in memory of Fossey's favourite gorilla, Digit, who was decapitated by poachers for the offer of US$20 by a Hutu merchant who specialized in selling gorilla heads as trophies and gorilla hands as ashtrays to tourists. [1]

Contents

Background

Sometime during the day on New Year's Eve 1977, Fossey's favourite gorilla, Digit, was killed by poachers. As the sentry of study group 4, he defended the group against six poachers and their dogs, who ran across the gorilla study group while checking antelope traplines. Digit took five spear wounds in ferocious self-defense and managed to kill one of the poachers' dogs, allowing the other 13 members of his group to escape. [2] Digit was decapitated, and his hands cut off for an ashtray, for the price of US$20 (equivalent to $89in 2021). After his mutilated body was discovered by research assistant Ian Redmond, Fossey's group captured one of the killers. He revealed the names of his five accomplices, three of whom were later imprisoned. [3]

Fossey subsequently created the Digit Fund to raise money for anti-poaching patrols. [4] It was renamed to the "Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International" in 1992. [5]

Fossey mostly opposed the efforts of the international organizations, which she felt inefficiently directed their funds towards more equipment for Rwandan park officials, some of whom were alleged to have ordered some of the gorilla poachings in the first place. [5] She commented on the profound effect that Digit's death had had on her approach to conservationism:

"I have tried not to allow myself to think of Digit's anguish, pain and the total comprehension he must have suffered in knowing what humans were doing to him. From that moment on, I came to live within an insulated part of myself." [6]

Financing

Busy with her research in Africa, Fossey enlisted the help of her friends, primatologist Richard Wrangham and TV presenter David Attenborough, who approached conservation organizations located in the UK including the Fauna Preservation Society (FPS) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which declined Fossey's request in favor of supporting an approach emphasizing tourism to Rwanda. [7] At Wrangham's request, FPS launched an appeal in response to Digit's death, which the group subsequently named the Mountain Gorilla Fund for better name recognition; FPS chose to direct the funds to Rwandan park officials rather than Fossey's on-the-ground efforts. [7] Fossey became frustrated as many international donors contributed funds in memory of Digit that were directed by international conservation organizations towards the construction of roads or the purchase of new vehicles for park conservation officials, who in many cases were bribed by poachers to look the other way from illegal activities and, according to Fossey, rarely ventured into the park at all. [7] When payments for Fossey's articles on Digit's death were accidentally directed to the FPS Mountain Gorilla Fund rather than to her, FPS declined to redirect the money towards Fossey or her initiative. [7] To coordinate donations to Rwandan authorities, FPS enlisted Fossey's former student and apprentice and one of her chief detractors, Sandy Harcourt. [8]

On her first trip to the United States after the poachings of Group 4, Fossey enlisted the aid of the National Geographic Society, which pledged $5,000, as did the World Wildlife Fund, over the objections of some of its members who had heard rumors of Fossey's anti-poaching patrols and other tactics she used against poaching. [9] Fossey asked her friend Robinson McIlvaine, the head of the nonprofit African Wildlife Leadership Foundation, to serve as secretary-treasurer of the Digit Fund until she could find a salaried executive director to assume control over the operations. McIlvaine partnered with the International Primate Protection League, the Digit Fund, and his own African Wildlife Leadership Foundation asking for funds, to be made out to the AWLF. [10] The Digit Fund received none of the money, and McIlvaine suggested to Fossey that the Digit Fund could be folded into AWLF, which Fossey declined; McIlvaine resigned as secretary-treasurer of the Digit Fund. [10]

Dr. Shirley McGreal, head of the International Primate Protection League (IPPL), had allowed IPPL's co-sponsorship of the letter only to help the Digit Fund and blames the misunderstanding on Fossey being taken advantage of in the wake of her gorillas' deaths and never viewing the gorillas' deaths as a way for her to personally profit. [10] McGreal volunteered to serve as secretary-treasurer in the wake of McIlvaine's resignation from the post. [11] Through the seeming partnership of AWLF/Digit Fund, funds contributed to the Digit Fund by philanthropist Gordon Hanes and by students under the supervision of primatologist Geza Teleki came under the auspices of AWLF, not the Digit Fund. [12] The US ambassador to Rwanda submitted a proposal in 1980 for Karisoke Research Center to be removed from Fossey's control and placed under a mountain gorilla consortium led by AWLF while Fossey was in America finishing her book. [12]

While she had lost control of funds raised in Britain after Digit's death to the Fauna Preservation Society, Fossey managed to keep the control of the Digit Fund in the United States until her death. After Fossey was murdered, the Digit Fund was renamed the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and remained headquartered in the UK [13] until the summer of 2006, when the UK and US branches split: the UK organization was briefly renamed the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Europe [14] then The Gorilla Organization, [15] (gorillas.org) and the US side of the organization became the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (gorillafund.org).

Activities

Through the Digit Fund, Fossey financed patrols to destroy poachers' traps among the mountains of Virunga. In four months in 1979, the Fossey patrol consisting of four African staffers destroyed 987 poachers' traps in the research area's vicinity. [16] The official Rwandan national park guards, consisting of 24 staffers, did not catch any poachers' traps during the same period. [16]

The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International continues to operate the Karisoke Research Center, which Fossey founded in 1967, [17] with daily gorilla monitoring and patrols.

Related Research Articles

Digit may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farley Mowat</span> Canadian writer and environmentalist (1921–2014)

Farley McGill Mowat, was a Canadian writer and environmentalist. His works were translated into 52 languages, and he sold more than 17 million books. He achieved fame with the publication of his books on the Canadian north, such as People of the Deer (1952) and Never Cry Wolf (1963). The latter, an account of his experiences with wolves in the Arctic, was made into a film of the same name released in 1983. For his body of work as a writer he won the annual Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature in 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dian Fossey</span> American primatologist and conservationist (1932–1985)

Dian Fossey was an American primatologist and conservationist known for undertaking an extensive study of mountain gorilla groups from 1966 until her murder in 1985. She studied them daily in the mountain forests of Rwanda, initially encouraged to work there by paleoanthropologist Louis Leakey. Gorillas in the Mist, a book published two years before her death, is Fossey's account of her scientific study of the gorillas at Karisoke Research Center and prior career. It was adapted into a 1988 film of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountain gorilla</span> Subspecies of the eastern gorilla

The mountain gorilla is one of the two subspecies of the eastern gorilla. It is listed as endangered by the IUCN as of 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volcanoes National Park</span>

Volcanoes National Park is a national park in northwestern Rwanda. It covers 160 km2 (62 sq mi) of rainforest and encompasses five of the eight volcanoes in the Virunga Mountains, namely Karisimbi, Bisoke, Muhabura, Gahinga and Sabyinyo. It borders Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mgahinga Gorilla National Park in Uganda. It is home to the mountain gorilla and the golden monkey, and was the base for the primatologist Dian Fossey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cologne Zoological Garden</span> Zoo in Germany

The Aktiengesellschaft Cologne Zoological Garden is the zoo of Cologne, Germany. Being the third oldest zoo in Germany, it features over 10,000 animals of more than 850 species on more than 20 hectares. The internationally renowned zoo with an attached aquarium and invertebrate exhibit is active in preservational breeding of animals that are in danger of becoming extinct. In addition, in-the-wild conservation efforts and research focussing on animals of Madagascar, Wallacea, and Vietnam are actively promoted and supported via cooperation with Cologne University and local projects, such as in the case of Przewalski's horses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Wrangham</span> British anthropologist and primatologist

Richard Walter Wrangham is an English anthropologist and primatologist; he is Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University. His research and writing have involved ape behavior, human evolution, violence, and cooking.

The International Primate Protection League (IPPL) is a not-for-profit animal welfare organization founded in 1973 in Thailand by Shirley McGreal.

Maiko National Park is a national park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It lies in one of the most remote forest areas of the country and covers 10,885 km2 (4,203 sq mi). The park is divided into three sectors, straddling the states of Nord Kivu, Province Orientale and Maniema. Three of the country's spectacular endemic animals occur here: the Grauer's gorilla, the okapi, and the Congo peafowl. Maiko is also an important site for the conservation of the African forest elephant, eastern chimpanzee and the endemic aquatic genet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karisoke Research Center</span>

The Karisoke Research Center is a research institute in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park. It was founded by Dian Fossey on 24 September 1967 to study endangered mountain gorillas. Fossey located the camp in Rwanda's Virunga volcanic mountain range, between Mount Karisimbi and Mount Bisoke, and named it by combining the names of the two mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern gorilla</span> Species of ape

The eastern gorilla is a critically endangered species of the genus Gorilla and the largest living primate. At present, the species is subdivided into two subspecies. There are 6,800 eastern lowland gorillas or Grauer’s gorillas and 1,000 mountain gorillas. Illegal hunting threatens the species.

<i>Gorillas in the Mist</i> 1988 film by Michael Apted

Gorillas in the Mist is a 1988 American biographical drama film directed by Michael Apted from a screenplay by Anna Hamilton Phelan and a story by Phelan and Tab Murphy. The film is based on the work by Dian Fossey and the article by Harold T. P. Hayes. It stars Sigourney Weaver as naturalist Dian Fossey and Bryan Brown as photographer Bob Campbell. It tells the story of Fossey, who came to Africa to study the vanishing mountain gorillas, and later fought to protect them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Trimates</span> Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Birutė Galdikas

The Trimates, sometimes called Leakey's Angels, is a name given to three women — Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas — chosen by anthropologist Louis Leakey to study primates in their natural environments. They studied chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans, respectively.

Virunga may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy Vedder</span>

Amy Vedder is an ecologist and primatologist involved in conservation work with mountain gorillas. She was the Class of 1969 valedictorian at Canajoharie High School, Canajoharie, New York, and a 1973 graduate of Swarthmore College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Titus (gorilla)</span> Silverback mountain gorilla of the Virunga Mountains

Titus was a silverback mountain gorilla of the Virunga Mountains, observed by researchers almost continuously over his entire life. He was the subject of the 2008 PBS Nature/BBC Natural World documentary film Titus: The Gorilla King.

The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) is the leading international conservation organization focused exclusively on Africa's wildlife and wild lands.

Robinson McIlvaine was an American career diplomat who was President of the African Wildlife Foundation from 1978 to 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Gorilla Conservation Programme</span>

The International Gorilla Conservation Programme (IGCP) was formed in 1991 to ensure that the critically endangered mountain gorillas are conserved in their habitat in the mountain forests of the Virunga Massif in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

<i>Woman in the Mists</i> Book by Farley Mowat

Woman in the Mists: The Story of Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas of Africa is a 1987 biography of the conservationist Dian Fossey, who studied and lived among the mountain gorillas of Rwanda. It is written by the Canadian author Farley Mowat, himself a conservationist and author of the book Never Cry Wolf.

References

  1. ↑ Mowat, Farley (1987). Woman In the Mists . New York: Warner Books. p. 165. ISBN   0-446-51360-1.
  2. ↑ "Dian Fossey text - P5". National Geographic. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
  3. ↑ "Dian Fossey text - P6". National Geographic. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
  4. ↑ Fossey, Dian (1983). Gorillas in the Mist.
  5. 1 2 Mowat, Farley (1987). Woman In the Mists . New York: Warner Books. p.  187. ISBN   0-446-51360-1.
  6. ↑ Franklyn, Jane-Marie (1998). "The Real Dian Fossey". Big Wave TV. Archived from the original on 2009-04-22. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Mowat, Farley (1987). Woman In the Mists . New York: Warner Books. pp.  172–3. ISBN   0-446-51360-1.
  8. ↑ Mowat, Farley (1987). Woman In the Mists . New York: Warner Books. p.  174. ISBN   0-446-51360-1.
  9. ↑ Mowat, Farley (1987). Woman In the Mists . New York: Warner Books. pp.  200–1. ISBN   0-446-51360-1.
  10. 1 2 3 Mowat, Farley (1987). Woman In the Mists . New York: Warner Books. pp.  202–3. ISBN   0-446-51360-1.
  11. ↑ Mowat, Farley (1987). Woman In the Mists . New York: Warner Books. p.  251. ISBN   0-446-51360-1.
  12. 1 2 Mowat, Farley (1987). Woman In the Mists . New York: Warner Books. pp.  211–213. ISBN   0-446-51360-1.
  13. ↑ "Contact". The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. Archived from the original on 19 June 2006. Retrieved 1 January 2022. The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund works internationally [...] Contact us [...] at The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, 110 Gloucester Avenue, London
  14. ↑ "Greatest ape: The battle to save the mountain gorilla". The Independent. 5 December 2007. Retrieved 1 January 2022. ... one of the bodies that has grown directly out of Dian Fossey's legacy: the Gorilla Organization (GO), which was formerly the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Europe. Based in London ...
  15. ↑ "THE GORILLA ORGANIZATION - Charity 1117131". register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 1 January 2022. INCORPORATED 3 NOVEMBER 2006
  16. 1 2 Mowat, Farley (1987). Woman In the Mists . New York: Warner Books. p.  223. ISBN   0-446-51360-1.
  17. ↑ "Dian Fossey". exhibits.uflib.ufl.edu.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.