Page 52 - World of Animals - Issue #33

Conserving gorillas

Gorillas are one of the poster
animals for conservation,
probably because they are
so closely related to humans

Gorilla rescue

The Gorilla Organization is dedicated to What kinds of projects are in effect? moving to the tourism trade. They know the trails and
saving gorillas in the wild through The short term is to keep the gorillas safe here and now. the forest and they can now take tourists in to see the
conservational and educational That includes anti-poaching - we support the rangers gorillas and therefore make a living without having to
ventures across the mountain gorillas’ that work for the national parks by equipping them and hurt the gorillas.
habitat in Africa helping them with their training. They carry out daily

patrols to remove snares from the forest floor set by Why is it important to protect gorillas,?
David Hewitt is the communications manager for The poachers and stop destruction of the forest for charcoal They are so genetically similar to us, they are gentle,
Gorilla Organization - we caught up with him to hear and firewood. In the longer term we are addressing why wise, very family orientated and peaceful. They are also

about the charity’s amazing work people are going into the forest in the first place. We help a key species for the forests. Like elephants, by moving

the communities trying to make a living outside of the everyday and by leaving their droppings they are playing
What is The Gorilla Organization and what does it do? forest. We support sustainable training for farmers so a vital part in the ecosystem.
We’ve been going for 25 years now and we grew out of that they have their patch of land and they don’t need to One major concern right now is that there’s a clash

the Dian Fossey Digit Fund – the money that was le by destroy more forest. between the gorillas and people. Gorillas might invade
Dian Fossey to commemorate her favourite mountain villages because it used to be forest, which endangers
gorilla Digit was re-branded as The Gorilla Organization. What are the main successes so far? the gorillas. They can also catch human diseases. We are
We have a base in London, and then a presence with The big success at the moment is a reformed poachers planting a million trees around the edge of the national

projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda program in Uganda and Rwanda. It’s an amnesty where park to act as a green buffer. This will minimise the risk
and Rwanda – the three countries where mountain former poachers symbolically give in their spears and of human/gorilla interaction.
gorillas live in the wild. We are a conservation and their rope snares. We help them to become either
development charity. We address both the short term sustainable farmers, or some of them are putting their For more information on how to get involved visit © Corbis; Thinkstock

and long term issues affecting a gorilla’s life. skills that they learned during their criminal activity to www.gorillas.org.
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