Who is Dian Fossey?
Dian Fossey was a primatologist and scientist. Dian is famous for her study of mountain gorillas and the relentless effort she put in and the time she dedicated to preserve the gorillas habitat. Dian spent 20 years living with and studying the mountain gorillas in Africa.
Dian wasn’t the easiest person to get along with and certainly made more enemy’s than friends in the time she spent in Africa. Dian was feared and hated by the native poachers who killed the gorillas to use their heads as trophies and make their hands and feet into ash trays.
What is a poacher?
A is poacher is a person who hunts or removes wild animals or fish illegally. Poachers hunting can be illegal heaps of reasons – for example the hunter isn’t licensed to hunt a particular animal, hunting of a specific animal is banded at a certain 
time of year. But often a poacher will target and kill a protected or endangered animal i.e. Gorillas, Tigers and other endangered cats are often killed by poachers for their fur and elephants are often poached as well.
What actions did Dian Fossey take?
Dian devoted her life to doing everything she could to protect the endangered gorillas she had grown very fond of as she studied them. One of Dian’s favourite gorillas and friend Digit was killed by poachers in 1978 on New Year’s Day, Dian started a fund called the Digit Fund after she had a story written about her work by the National Geographic which led to a lot of donations. The fund was latter re named the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. Along with this fund Dian also wrote a book which latter also became a move ‘Gorillas in the Mist’ at this time the number of gorillas alive in the world had reached a terrible low of only 250! Dian’s book drew a lot of attention and awareness to the problem gorillas were facing.
What happened to Dian Fossey?
Dian Fossey was very strong willed and determined to do whatever it took to stop the poachers killing her beloved gorillas. On the 27th of December 1985 Dian was murdered, the mystery of her attacker took many years to solve but it was believed to be one of the poachers who she declared war against. Dian went around burning poacher’s houses, killing their cows who strayed into her land and even getting the students of her research camp, Karisoke in Rwanda to carry guns.
Dian is buried in Africa among her true friends, the gorillas.
How might have Dian Fossey prevented her death?
Dian sealed her fate when she declared war on the poachers, burning their houses and all. If Dian hadn’t have done these things and taken a more constructive way to stop the poachers she might still be with us today.
WHy Should we help the gorillas?
Okay so about now some of you are probably sitting here wondering what’s the big fuss? Why should we care about these animals? Why should we save the gorillas? What would happen if they went extinct?
Well, to start with any animal that goes extinct will have an impact on how we live today, some animals may seem more “important” than others but every living creature plays a key role in the food chain and ecosystem. Gorillas live in forests and they play an important role in keeping the forest healthy by feeding off the plants, making sure it doesn’t get too crowded with sick plants. Everything underneath gorillas in the food chain would be affected by the loss of gorillas because they would have no predators and there is a risk that they could over populate, also the animals above the gorillas in the food chain would have lost an important food source.
Losing Gorillas would not only be bad for the ecosystems but gorillas and humans are very closely related and gorillas are used to help study and understand human behaviour and DNA more. What if it were the other way round and we were below the gorillas and going extinct wouldn’t you want them to help you survive? Think about that.
They’re not all that different to us!
