![]() The situation turned especially violent after 1977 when poachers killed Fossey's favorite gorilla, Digit. "These tactics were not popular among locals who were struggling to get by," Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International writes on its website. Wearing masks, she scared off poachers, burned snares and spray-painted cattle to discourage herders from having them graze inside a national park. The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, which Fossey established, calls her methods "unorthodox." Fossey herself called her strategy "active conservation." Her goal was protecting gorillas from humans - with whatever methods necessary. Many NGOs stress that conservation is only possible with the support of the local communities and that it takes a local commitment for conservation projects to succeed.īut Fossey's tactics were different. Mountain gorillas are still critically endangered Image: Rainer Dückerhoff Long-term conservation goals, she thought, were useless. She believed that only drastic methods could save the species. Most poachers didn't aim to catch gorillas but the peaceful apes often became ensnared in traps intended for other animals, particularly antelope or buffalo.įossey feared that mountain gorillas would go extinct by the end of the 20th century if no one took action. In the 1970s, only 250 mountain gorillas were left in the Virunga Mountains along the border of Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly called Zaire) and Uganda. ![]() She had been fighting relentlessly against poachers who threatened the existence of "her" mountain gorillas. The gorilla researcher had made herself lots of enemies in the local community. It seemed to be an act of personal revenge. Someone forcefully entered her cabin during the night from December 26 to 27, 1985 and must be quite furious, hitting Fossey's head and face twice with a machete. To this day, the identity of Dian Fossey's murderer remains unknown. ![]()
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