Jelena: DIAN FOSSEY - Thanks to her there are still "gorillas in the mist"

“When you realize the value of all forms of life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future”. This was the last entry in the diary of Dian Fossey, one of the most prominent primatologists in the world, who spent a period of 18 years studying gorillas in the mountain forests of Rwanda. She wrote these words shortly before she was murdered in the bedroom of her cabin in Virunga Mountains, Rwanda, in late December 1985. 

Her parents had divorced when she was six. Shortly afterwards, she lost touch with her father and had a stepfather who never treated her as his own child. As a result of her difficult childhood, plagued with family problems, she suffered from personal insecurity and, in order to gain acceptance, she turned to animals, especially horses. Her idea of a professional life working with animals clashed with her stepfather’s expectations that she would finish business school, so she was left without financial support. Nevertheless, she managed to find enough money for her studies by working as either a clerk in a department store or a machinist in a factory. However, she failed her second year of pre-veterinary course in biology, so she got a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy and started to work in a hospital. Later she stated that it was her work with autistic children what helped her to bond with gorillas.

Her first encounter with wild life in Africa and gorillas was during her seven-week visit in 1963. During this journey, she met eminent British paleoanthropologist and archaeologist Louis Leakey, who did a great job in creating organizations for future research in Africa and for the protection of wildlife there. Three years later, she left her job as she got funding from Louis for her research with the mountain gorillas. She had to learn Swahili and primatology for eight months, and then, in December 1966, she went to Congo, where she spent some time with other researchers in order to observe their methods with chimpanzees and learn basic gorilla tracking. While she was doing her field study in Kabara, she learned a lot about the gorillas’ behavior and communication, which allowed her to get closer to them. Because of the complicated political situation in Congo, she was forced to go back to Rwanda and continue her study on the great apes. There she founded Karisoke Research Center, a remote camp near the Virunga volcanoes, where she spent most of her time researching and protecting endangered gorillas from extinction. 

Apart from her research work, she is well-known for her tireless fight against poaching. Poachers sell gorilla hands as delicacies, magic charms or simply to make ashtrays. Her battle grew bigger after the death of some of her favorite gorillas, which made her found Digit Fund, named in memory of Digit, her beloved gorilla, who was killed by poachers. She made the effort to raise money for anti-poaching patrols, in which she participated as well, also destroying traps, arresting poachers, burning their camps and putting pressure on government and local officials to enforce the law. She was against keeping animals in zoos just for the entertainment of the people and she criticized tourism for disturbing the natural environment of gorillas and spreading human diseases, to which the animals don´t have immunity. 

She faced many problems because Rwandan national park conservators often helped poachers; some organizations received a lot of public donations to help Fossey, but all the funds were invested in touristic projects. Officials also tried to diminish her achievements and show her as a mentally unstable and dangerous person.

Her death is a mystery. The case is still open, and there are two theories about the possible murderer. The first one is that she was killed by one of the poachers as revenge, and the other one is that some officials saw her as an obstacle to the touristic and financial exploitation of the gorillas, so somebody who was familiar with her activities was implicated, because of the way she was murdered in her house. There is also a lot of controversy around her work, which was criticized for the way she was dealing with poachers, often described as ruthless and racist. Nevertheless, her contribution to the animal world, especially the gorilla, is enormous. The resort she built is still active and continues the work she started. Gorillas in the Mist, dealing with both her scientific job and personal life, is the best-selling book about gorillas even today, 28 years after her death. 

I remember how sad I was after seeing a movie named after her book, which deals with her life and work with gorillas. I think I was 10 years old and I couldn't understand how people can be so cruel to animals and how somebody killed a woman who unselfishly dedicated her life to protecting a piece of wilderness and raising awareness about the importance of keeping the wildlife’s natural habitat untouched.

A couple of days ago, on January 16 2014 the world celebrated Dian Fossey’s 82nd birthday, and Google paid a tribute by dedicating to her its search homepage, which made me write about this incredible woman, also known by the locals as Nyirmachabelli (or "The woman who lives alone on the mountain")

Thanks Jelena for yet another fantastic post. Indeed Dian Fossey was a remarkable woman an a truly devoted naturalist, who, like some other wildlife lovers, had an untimely death. 

I asked Jelena if she would like me to embed this beautiful, enlightening National Geographic documentary I came across on YouTube, called "The Lost Film of Dian Fossey" and she agreed. Worth seeing!