Dian Fossey (January 16, 1932 in San Francisco San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 12th most populous city in the United States, with a 2008 estimated population of 808,976. The only consolidated city-county in California, it encompasses a land area of 46.7 square miles on the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, making it the second-most densely, California California (pronounced /kælɨˈfɔrnjə/ ) is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil. It is located on the West Coast of the United States, and is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the northeast, – December 26, 1985, Virunga Mountains The Virunga Mountains are a chain of volcanoes in East Africa, along the northern border of Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The mountain range is a branch of the Albertine Rift, a part of the Great Rift Valley. They are located between Lake Edward and Lake Kivu, Rwanda The Republic of Rwanda , known as the Land of a Thousand Hills, is a country located in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania) was an American zoologist Ethology is the scientific study of animal behavior, and a sub-topic of zoology who undertook an extensive study of gorilla Gorillas are the largest of the living primates. They are ground-dwelling and predominantly herbivorous. They inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies. The DNA of gorillas is 98%–99% identical to that of a human, and they are the next closest living relatives to humans after groups over a period of 18 years. She observed them daily for years in the mountain forests of Rwanda The Republic of Rwanda , known as the Land of a Thousand Hills, is a country located in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa, bordered by Uganda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania, initially encouraged to work there by famous anthropologist Anthropology is the study of humanity. Anthropology has origins in the natural sciences, the humanities, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology", pronounced /ænθrɵˈpɒlədʒi/, is from the Greek ἄνθρωπος, anthrōpos, "human", and -λογία, -logia, "discourse" or "study", and was Louis Leakey Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (August 7, 1903 – October 1, 1972) was a Kenyan archaeologist and naturalist whose work was important in establishing human evolutionary development in Africa. He also played a major role in creating organizations for future research in Africa and for protecting wildlife there. Having been a prime mover in. She was murdered in 1985, by unknown assailants; the case technically remains open.

Along with Jane Goodall Dame Valerie Jane Morris Goodall, DBE , is an English UN Messenger of Peace, primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist. She is well-known for her 45-year study of chimpanzee social and family interactions in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania, and for founding the Jane Goodall Institute and Birutė Galdikas Birutė Marija Filomena Galdikas, OC Ph.D. ), is a primatologist, conservationist, ethologist, and author of several books relating to the endangered species orangutan. Well known in the field of modern primatology, Galdikas is recognized as a leading authority on orangutans, she was known as a "Trimate" one of the three most prominent researchers on primates: Fossey on Gorillas; Goodall on Chimpanzees; and Galdikas on Orangutans.

Contents

Scientific and Conservational Achievements

On September 24, 1967, Fossey founded the Karisoke Research Center Karisoke research center in Rwanda was founded by Dian Fossey on 24 September 1967. The camp was the location of extensive studies on Mountain Gorillas, a remote rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750–2000 mm . The monsoon trough, alternately known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating Earth's tropical rain forests camp nestled in Ruhengeri Ruhengeri is a city in Musanze district, in the North Province of Rwanda. It is also sometimes known as Musanze due to being the district headquarters. The city lies near Lake Bulera and the Volcanoes National Park in the northwestern part of the country. It is home to an airstrip. The city is often used as the jump-off point for visiting the province. “Kari” for the first four letters of Mt. Karisimbi that overlooked her camp from the south, and “soke” for the last four letters of Mt. Visoke, the slopes of which rose to the north, directly behind camp.[1] Established 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) up Mount Visoke, the defined study area covered 25 square kilometres (9.7 sq mi).[2] She became known as by locals as Nyirmachabelli, roughly translated as "The woman who lives alone on the mountain."

When her photograph, taken by Bob Campbell, appeared on the cover of National Geographic Magazine The National Geographic Magazine, later shortened to National Geographic, is the official journal of the National Geographic Society. It published its first issue in 1888, just nine months after the Society itself was founded. It is immediately identifiable by the characteristic yellow frame that surrounds its front cover in January 1970, Fossey became an international celebrity, bringing massive publicity to her cause of saving the mountain gorilla from extinction, as well as convincing the general public that gorillas are not as bad as they are sometimes depicted in movies and books. Photographs showing the gorilla "Peanuts" touching Fossey's hand depicted the first recorded peaceful contact between a human being and a wild gorilla. Her extraordinary rapport with animals and her background as an occupational therapist brushed away the Hollywood "King Kong" myth of an aggressive, savage beast.

Opposition to poaching

Fossey strongly supported "active conservation"—for example anti-poaching Poaching is the illegal hunting, fishing, trapping, or eating of wild plants or animals contrary to local and international conservation and wildlife management laws. Violations of hunting laws and regulations are normally punishable by law and, collectively, such violations are known as poaching patrols and preservation of natural habitat—as opposed to "theoretical conservation", which includes the promotion of tourism. She was also strongly opposed to zoos The term zoological garden refers to zoology, the study of animals, a term deriving from the Greek zωο and λóγος (lógos – "study"). The abbreviation "zoo" was first used of the London Zoological Gardens, which opened for scientific study in 1828 and to the public in 1847. The number of major animal collections open to, as the capture of individual animals all too often involves the killing of their family members.[citation needed] Many[quantify] animals do not survive the transport, and the breeding rate and survival rate in zoos are often[quantify] lower than in the wild. For example, in 1978, Fossey attempted to prevent the export of two young gorillas, Coco and Pucker, from Rwanda to the Cologne, Germany Cologne (German: Köln, pronounced [kœln] ; local dialect: Kölle [ˈkœɫə]) is Germany's fourth-largest city (after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich), and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million, zoo. She learned that, during their capture, 20 adult gorillas had been killed. The two captives were given to Fossey by their captors for treatment of injuries suffered during capture and captivity. With considerable effort, she restored them to some approximation of health. They were shipped to Cologne, where they lived nine years in captivity, both dying in the same month.[3] She viewed the holding of animals in "prison" (zoos The term zoological garden refers to zoology, the study of animals, a term deriving from the Greek zωο and λóγος (lógos – "study"). The abbreviation "zoo" was first used of the London Zoological Gardens, which opened for scientific study in 1828 and to the public in 1847. The number of major animal collections open to) for the entertainment of people as unethical.[4]

Opposition to tourism

Dian Fossey strongly opposed tourism as gorillas are very susceptible to diseases by humans like the flu for which they have no immune defense. Dian Fossey reported several cases in which gorillas died because of diseases spread by tourists. She also viewed tourism as an interference into their natural wild behaviour. [3]

Preservation of habitat

Fossey is responsible for the revision of a European Community project that converted parkland into pyrethrum farms. Thanks to her efforts, the park boundary was lowered from the 3,000-meter line to the 2,500-meter line. [3][3]

Digit Fund

Main article: Digit Fund The Digit Fund was created by Dr. Dian Fossey in 1978 for the sole purpose of financing her antipoaching patrols. It was named in memory of her favourite gorilla Digit who was decapitated by poachers for the offer of US$20 by an American merchant

During the daytime of New Year's Eve New Year's Eve or Old Year's Night is on 31 December, the final day of the Gregorian year, and the day before New Year's Day 1977, Fossey's favourite gorilla, Digit, was killed by poachers. As guard of study group 4, he had held off six poachers and their dogs who ran into the group within their antelope Antelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species found in the family Bovidae. The term does not refer to a monophyletic group, as not all members of Bovidae are considered antelope. Instead, the term refers to a ‘miscellaneous’ group within the family encompassing the species which are not cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, or goats traplines. Digit took five spear wounds, yet in ferocious self-defense managed to kill one of the poachers' dogs, allowing the other 13 members of his group to escape.[5] He was decapitated for the price of $20. After his mutilated body was discovered by Ph.D. research student Ian Redmond, Fossey's group captured one of the killers. He revealed the names of his five accomplices, and all but two were later imprisoned.[6]

Fossey resultantly created the Digit Fund The Digit Fund was created by Dr. Dian Fossey in 1978 for the sole purpose of financing her antipoaching patrols. It was named in memory of her favourite gorilla Digit who was decapitated by poachers for the offer of US$20 by an American merchant, with the intent to raise money for anti-poaching patrols.[4] Digit's death had a profound affect on her approach to conservationism, and she commented that "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."[7]

Fossey became more intense in protecting the gorillas, and now employed new and more direct tactics, by: cutting animal traps almost as soon as they were set; frightened, captured and beat the poachers; hold their cattle for ransom; burn their crops and even their houses.[8] Fossey also constantly challenged the local officials to enforce the law and assist her.

Cornell University and autobiography

By 1980, Fossey was recognised as the world's leading authority on the physiology and behaviour of mountain gorillas, defining gorillas as being "dignified, highly social, gentle giants, with individual personalities, and strong family relationships."[9]

Dr Fossey lectured as professor at Cornell University in 1981-1983. Her bestselling book Gorillas in the Mist Gorillas in the Mist is a 1988 film which tells the true-life story of naturalist Dian Fossey and her work in Rwanda with Mountain Gorillas. The screenplay was adapted by Anna Hamilton Phelan from articles by Alex Shoumatoff and Harold T. P. Hayes and a story by Phelan and Tab Murphy. The original music score was composed by Maurice Jarre. The was praised by Nikolaas Tinbergen Nikolaas "Niko" Tinbergen was a Dutch ethologist and ornithologist who shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Karl von Frisch and Konrad Lorenz for their discoveries concerning organization and elicitation of individual and social behaviour patterns in animals, the Dutch ethologist and ornithologist who won the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded once a year by the Swedish Karolinska Institute. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in Physics, Chemistry, Literature, Peace, and Physiology or Medicine since 1901. The first Nobel Prize in Physiology or. Her book remains the best-selling book about gorillas of all time.[3]

Biography

Dian Fossey was born in San Francisco San Francisco is the fourth most populous city in California and the 12th most populous city in the United States, with a 2008 estimated population of 808,976. The only consolidated city-county in California, it encompasses a land area of 46.7 square miles on the northern end of the San Francisco Peninsula, making it the second-most densely, California California (pronounced /kælɨˈfɔrnjə/ ) is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil. It is located on the West Coast of the United States, and is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the northeast, to George and Kitty Fossey.[9] Her father was a US Navy The United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 284 ships in active service and more than 3,700 aircraft. The U.S. Navy is the largest in sailor. Her parents divorced when Dian was aged 6.[8] Her mother remarried the following year, to businessman Richard Price.

Her father tried to keep in contact, but her mother discouraged it and all contact was subsequently lost.[9] In the Price household, Fossey was cared for on a daily basis by the domestic servants A domestic worker is someone who works within the employer's household. Domestic workers perform a variety of household services for an individual or a family, from providing care for children and elderly dependents to cleaning and household maintenance, known as housekeeping. Responsibilities may also include cooking, doing laundry and ironing,, only allowed to eat with her mother and stepfather on Sundays and holidays.[8] At age six she began riding, earning a letter from her school; by her graduation in 1954, Fossey had established herself as an equestrian Equestrianism refers to the skill of riding or driving horses. This broad description includes both use of horses for practical, working purposes as well as recreational activities and competitive sports.

Education

Educated at Lowell High School Lowell High School, a public magnet school in San Francisco, is the oldest public high school west of the Mississippi in the continental United States. Lowell was ranked #54 by Newsweek's Jay Mathews Challenge Index of best high schools of the United States in 2008 and #39 on U.S. News & World Report's Best High Schools in America for 2009, following the guidance of her stepfather she enrolled in a business course at Marin Junior College. However, a summer on a ranch in Montana Montana ( /mɒnˈtænə/ ) is a state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name, derived from the Spanish word montañ aged 19 rekindled her love of animals, and she resultantly enrolled in a pre-veterinary Veterinary medicine is the application of medical, diagnostic, surgical, dental, and therapeutic principles to companion, domestic, exotic, wildlife, and production animals. Veterinary science is vital to the study and protection of animal production practices, herd health and monitoring the spread of disease. It does not require the acquisition course in biology at the University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis is a public research university located in Davis, California, and one of ten campuses in the University of California system. Commonly referred to as UC Davis, the school was originally established in 1905 as the University Farm, an extension of UC Berkeley. UC Davis welcomed its first class in 1908. It was. She supported herself by working as a clerk at White Front White Front was a chain of discount stores prevalent throughout Southern California and the western United States from 1959 through the mid-1970s. They were especially noted for the architecture of their store fronts which was an enormous, sweeping archway with the store name spelled out in individual letters fanned across the top. The chain also (a department store), doing other clerking and laboratory work, and working as a machinist A machinist is a person who uses machine tools to make or modify parts, primarily metal parts, a process known as machining. This is accomplished by using machine tools to cut away excess material much as a woodcarver cuts away excess wood to produce his work. In addition to metal, the parts may be made of many other kinds of materials, such as in a factory.

However, although up to that point an exemplary student, Fossey found difficulties with base sciences including chemistry Chemistry (from Arabic: كيمياء Latinized: chem , meaning "earth") is the science concerned with the composition, behavior, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions. It is a physical science for studies of various atoms, molecules, crystals and other aggregates of matter and physics Physics is a natural science; it is the study of matter and its motion through spacetime and all that derives from these, such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the world and universe behave, and failed her second year. She transferred to San José State College San José State University is a public university located in San José, California, United States. It is the founding campus of the California State University system. Located in downtown San José, the university enrolls approximately 30,000 students in over 130 different bachelor's and master's degree programs, and is believed to be the oldest to study occupational therapy Occupational therapy, often abbreviated as "OT", uses meaningful and purposeful occupations to promote health. These can be work related activities to leisure activities. Occupational therapists work with individuals, families, groups and communities to facilitate health and well-being through engagement or re-engagement in occupation, receiving her bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for four years, but can range from two to six years depending on the region of the world. It may also be the name of a "postgraduate" degree, such as a Bachelor of Civil Law, the Bachelor of Music, or the Bachelor of in 1954.

Fossey received her PhD Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated PhD , for the Latin philosophiæ doctor, meaning "teacher of philosophy", or alternatively, DPhil, Dr. phil. or similar, for the equivalent doctor philosophiæ, is an advanced academic degree awarded by universities. In many English-speaking countries, the PhD is the highest degree one can earn and from Darwin College Darwin College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is a college for advanced study, admitting only postgraduate students, Cambridge The city of Cambridge (pronounced /ˈkeɪmbrɪdʒ/ (KAYM-bridj)) is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about 50 miles (80 km) north of London. Cambridge is also at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens, for a thesis entitled "The behavior of the mountain gorilla The Mountain Gorilla is one of the two subspecies of the Eastern Gorilla. There are two populations. One is found in the Virunga volcanic mountains of Central Africa, within three national parks: Mgahinga, in south-west Uganda; Volcanoes, in north-west Rwanda; and Virunga in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The other is found in" in 1976. Between 1981 and 1983 Fossey lectured as Professor at Cornell University Cornell University is a private university located in Ithaca, New York, USA, that is a member of the Ivy League in Ithaca Ithaca or Ithaka is an island located in the Ionian Sea, in Greece, with an area of 45 square miles and a little more than three thousand inhabitants. It is an independent municipality of the Kefallinia Prefecture, and lies off the northeast coast of Kefalonia. The municipality of Ithaca includes some smaller islands as well. The capital, Itháki ,, New York.

Occupational therapist

Initially following her college major, Fossey began a career in occupational therapy Occupational therapy, often abbreviated as "OT", uses meaningful and purposeful occupations to promote health. These can be work related activities to leisure activities. Occupational therapists work with individuals, families, groups and communities to facilitate health and well-being through engagement or re-engagement in occupation. Interned at various hospitals in California, she worked with tuberculosis Tuberculosis or TB is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis in humans. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body. It is spread through the air, when people who have the disease cough, sneeze, or spit. Most infections in humans result in an patients.[1] After less than a year, she moved to Louisville, Kentucky. Living a few miles south of the town on Judge George Long's estate off of Bardstown Road in the servants quarters,[8] she eventually became director of the occupational therapy department at Kosair Children's Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky.[10]

Interest in Africa

Fossey became friends with Mrs Mary White "Gaynee" Henry, secretary to the chief administrator at the hospital and wife of one of the doctors Dr. Michael J. Henry, who lived on Summit Avenue, Louisville.[9] Gaynee Henry showed Fossey pictures of the couples tours of Africa, which kindled her interests.[8] After having to turn down an offer to join the couple on an Africa tour due to her inability to raise the finance,[9] in 1963 she borrowed $8,000 (1 year's salary) from Gaynee Henry, and went on a seven week visit to Africa.[8]

In September 1963, she arrived in Nairobi, Kenya.[1] Whilst there, she met actor William Holden who owned Treetops Hotel,[8] who introduced her to white British hunter John Alexander.[8] Alexander became her guide for the next seven weeks through Kenya, Tanganyika, Zaire, and Rhodesia. Referred to as "white hunter" in her diary, Alexander's route included visits to Tsavo, Africa’s largest national park, the saline lake of Manyara, famous for attracting giant flocks of flamingos, and the Ngorongoro Crater, well-known for its abundant wildlife.[1]

The final two sites for her visit were Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania (the archeological site of Louis and Mary Leakey); and Mt. Mikeno in Congo, where in 1959, American zoologist George Schaller had carried out a pioneering study of the mountain gorilla. At Olduvai Gorge, Fossey met Dr. Leakey and his wife while they were examining the area for hominid fossils. Louis talked to Fossey about the work of Jane Goodall and the importance of long term research of the great apes, work pioneered by George Schaller.[1]

Although she had broken her ankle while visiting the Leakeys,[1] by October 16, Fossey was staying in Walter Baumgartel's small hotel in Uganda, the Travellers Rest. Baumgartel, an advocate of gorilla conservation, was among the first to see the benefits that tourism could bring to the area, and he introduced Fossey to Kenyan wildlife photographers Joan and Alan Root. The couple agreed to allow Fossey and Alexander to camp behind their own camp, and it was during these few days that Fossey first encountered wild mountain gorillas.[1]

After staying with friends in Rhodesia, Fossey returned home to Louisville to repay her loans. She wrote and had published three articles in The Courier-Journal newspaper, detailing her visit to Africa.[1][8]

After studying Swahili for the eight months it took to get her visa and funding agreed, Fossey arrived in Nairobi in December 1966. With the help of Joan Root, she acquired the necessary provisions and an old canvas-topped Land Rover which she named “Lily.” On the way to the Congo, Fossey visited the Gombe Stream Research Centre to meet Jane Goodall, and observe her research methods with chimpanzees.[1]

Accompanied by Alan Root who helped her obtained work permits for the Virunga mountains, Fossey began her field study at Kabara, in the Zaire in early 1967. Root taught her basic gorilla tracking, and his tracker Sanwekwe later Fossey's camp. Living in tents on mainly tinned produce, once a month Fossey would hike down the mountain to “Lily” and make the two-hour drive to the village of Kikumba to restock.[1]

Fossey identified three distinct groups in her study area, but couldn't get close to them. She eventually found that mimicking their actions and making grunting sounds assured them, together with submissive behaviour and eating of the local celery plant. Like George Schaller, Fossey relied greatly on individual “noseprints” for identification, initially via sketching and later by camera.[1]

Fossey had arrived in the Congo in locally turbulent times. Known as the Belgian Congo up until its independence in June 1960, unrest and rebellion plagued the new government until 1965, when Lieutenant General Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, by then commander-in-chief of the national army, seized control of the country and declared himself president for five years during what is now called the Congo Crisis. With resultant political upheaval involving battles breaking out, there a rebellion in the Kivu Province.

On July 9, 1967, soldiers arrived at the camp to escort them down, and she was interned at Rumangabo for two weeks. Fossey eventually escaped through bribery to Walter Baumgärtel's Travellers Rest Hotel in Kisoro, where her escort was arrested by the Ugandan military.[1][11]

Advised by the Ugandan authorities not to return to Congo, after meeting Dr Leakey in Nairobi, Fossey agreed with him against US Embassy advice to restart her study on the Rwandan side of the Virungas.[1] In Rwanda, Fossey had met Rosamond Carr who introduced her to Belgian Alyette DeMunck, who through her knowledge of Rwanda offered to find Fossey a suitable site.[1] the future Karisoke Research station

Personal life

After returning to Louisville, she met and later became engaged to Alexea Forrester, related to a family she met in Africa. After leaving for Africa in 1966, in later interviews Fossey would comment that "I left my appendix and fiancé in the states."[8]

Fossey then became involved with National Geographic photographer Bob Campbell after a year of working together at Karisoke with Campbell promising to leave his wife.[8] But eventually the pair grew apart through her dedication to the gorillas and Karisoke, and his need to work further afield. In 1970, during her time in Cambridge to get her Ph.D., she discovered she was pregnant and got an abortion, later commenting that "you can't be a cover girl for National Geographic Magazine and be pregnant."[8]

Death

After her return in 1983, and before Dr Fossey's death, a meteorologic station was installed at the Karisoke research center and she welcomed one of the first Rwandan researchers, like Joseph Munyanezu [1]. When one of her trackers was hospitalized she sent him money and a note signing it: "With love to You from all of us at camp, Nyiramachabelli" [1] Dian Fossey was described by her friends "as exuberant as a whirlwind" after she obtained her 2 years visa and sold the rights to her book to Universal Studios for 1 million dollars to secure the funding of her poaching patrols forever. Her presence and her opposition to the financial exploitation of the gorillas must have been "intolerable to some people" as cite in Farley Mowat's book "Woman in the Mist".

Fossey was found murdered in the bedroom of her cabin on December 26, 1985. The last entry in her diary read:[12]

“ When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate on the preservation of the future ”

Fossey's skull had been split by a panga (machete), a tool widely used by poachers, which she had confiscated years earlier and hung as a decoration on the wall of her living room adjacent to her bedroom. Fossey was found dead beside her bed, with her gun beside her but the ammunition didn't fit the weapon. The cabin showed signs of a struggle as there was broken glass on the floor and tables and other furniture overturned. All Fossey's valuables were still in the cabin - thousands of dollars in cash and travelers' checks, and photo equipment remained untouched. She was 2 metres (6.6 ft) away from a hole cut in the wall of the cabin on the day of her murder.[3] Despite the violent nature of the wound, there was relatively little blood in her bedroom, leading some to believe that she was killed before the head-wound was inflicted, as head wounds, even superficial ones, usually bleed profusely.[citation needed]

Fossey is interred at Karisoke,[13][14] in a site that she herself had constructed for her dead gorilla friends. She was buried in the gorilla graveyard next to Digit, and near many gorillas killed by poachers.

Fossey's will stated that all her money (including proceeds from the movie) should go to the Digit Fund to finance anti-poaching patrols. However, her mother Kitty Price, challenged the will and won.[3]

Opponents and theories on murder

After Fossey's death, her entire staff, including Rwelekana, a tracker she had fired months before, were arrested. All but Rwelekana, who was later found dead in prison, supposedly having hanged himself, were released.[3]

On the night of Fossey's murder, a metal sheeting from her bedroom was removed at the only place of the bedroom where it would not have been obstructed by her furniture, which supports the case that the murder was committed by someone who was familiar with the cabin and her day-to-day activities. The sheeting of her cabin, which was normally securely locked at night, might also have been removed after the murder to make it appear as if the killing was the work of poachers.

Farley Mowat's biography of Fossey, Woman in the Mists, suggests that it is unlikely that she was killed by poachers. According to Mowat, it is unlikely that a stranger could have entered her cabin by cutting a hole and then going to her living-room to get the panga, giving Fossey time to escape; the amount of untouched valuables also makes it unlikely the act of a poor poacher. According to the book, poachers would have been more likely to kill her in the forest, with little risk to themselves. Mowat hence believes that she was killed by those who viewed her as an impediment to the touristic and financial exploitation of the gorillas.

According to Linda Melvern in her book Conspiracy to Murder, Protais Zigiranyirazo, Préfet of Ruhengeri, animal trader and Rwanda's ex-president's brother-in-law, could also have been "implicated in the murder of Dian Fossey in 1985." Quoting Nick Gordon, author of a book about Fossey's death, "Another reason why she might have been murdered is that she knew too much about the illegal trafficking by Rwanda's ruling clique." Protais Zigiranyirazo also had strong financial interests in gorilla tourism.

Fossey was portrayed by her detractors as eccentric and obsessed, and all kinds of stories circulated about her. According to her letters, ORTPN, the World Wildlife Fund, African Wildlife Foundation, FPS, the Mountain Gorilla Project and some of her former students tried to wrest control of the Karisoke research center from her for the purpose of tourism, by portraying her as unstable. In her last two years, Fossey claims not to have lost any gorillas to poachers; however the Mountain Gorilla Project, which was supposed to patrol the Mount Sabyinyo area, tried to cover up gorilla deaths caused by poaching and diseases transmitted through tourists. Nevertheless, these organizations received most of the public donations.[3] The public often believed their money would go to Fossey, who was struggling to finance her anti-poaching patrols, while organizations collecting in her name put it into tourism projects and as she put it "to pay the airfare of so-called conservationists who will never go on anti-poaching patrols in their life."

Many of the organizations that opposed Fossey, including ORTPN (the Rwandan tourism office) and other wildlife organizations, used and continue to use her name for their financial gain up to this day.[3] Weeks before her death, ORTPN refused to renew her visa, and pressure on Fossey was mounting. However, Fossey managed to obtain a special two-year visa through Augustin Nduwayezu, a benevolent Secretary-General in charge of immigration.[3] Mowat believes that the extension of her visa amounted to a de facto death warrant.

Months before her death, Fossey signed a $1,000,000 contract with Universal Studios for a movie that was to be based on her book, Gorillas in the Mist. The prospect that her work would be funded far into the future may have contributed to her demise.

The Wall Street Journal in March 2002 allegedly described Fossey at the end of her life as "colourful, controversial and a racist alcoholic, who loved her gorillas more than the people."[8] However Farley Mowat's book "Woman in the Mist" dismisses these allegations as sick phantasies by her detractors. In his book Mowat writes that during her South African lecture tour Fossey was so critical of Apartheid that she was banned from South Africa. When in 1985 one of her black trackers was hospitalised she sent him money with a note: "Love, from all of us at camp, Nyiramachabelli".[3]

The director of ORTPN, Habirameye, who refused to renew Fossey's last visa request, insisted at the filming of Gorillas in the Mist that there should be as little about the death scene as possible.

Legacy

After her death, Fossey's Digit Fund in the U.S. was renamed the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. The Karisoke Research Center is operated by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, and continues the daily gorilla monitoring and protection that she started.

The Digit Fund in the UK, which Fossey lost to the Fauna Protection League (FPL), was also renamed after her as "The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund UK" (DFGF-UK). However she never received any funds collected in her name by the FPL; and although some conservationists associated with the FPL wanted her to be removed from Rwanda FPL and the DFGF-UK (which renamed itself The Gorilla Organization in 2006), they continue to use her name up to this day for their financial purposes (including promotion of tourism, which Fossey opposed, and the financing of local bureaucrats).[3]

One of Fossey's friends, Shirley McGreal, continues to work for the protection of primates through the work of her International Primate Protection League (IPPL) one of the few wildlife organizations that according to Fossey effectively promotes "active conservation".

Between Fossey's death until the 1994 Rwanda genocide, Karisoke was directed by former students who had opposed her.[3] During the genocide, the camp was completely looted and destroyed. Today only remnants remain of her cabin, as it had been converted into a museum for tourists at the time. During the civil war the Virunga parks were filled with refugees and illegal logging destroyed vast areas.

Today, the Rwandan people have realized the importance of the mountain gorillas and their natural habitat. They have returned to the past by bringing back Kwita Izina - the Baby Gorilla Naming Ceremony in which each baby gorilla gets a name.

Books

Mowat's Virunga, whose British and U.S. editions are called Woman in the Mist 'The Story of Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas of Africa', was the first book-length biography of Fossey, and it serves as an insightful counterweight to the dramatizations and fiction of the movie. It includes many of Fossey's own letters and entries in her journals.

A new book published in 2005 by National Geographic in the United States and Palazzo Editions in the United Kingdom as No One Loved Gorillas More, written by Camilla de la Bedoyere, features for the first time Fossey's story told through the letters she wrote to her family and friends. The book was published to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of her death, and includes many of Bob Campbell's previously unpublished photographs.

In 2006, Gorilla Dreams: The Legacy of Dian Fossey was published, written by the investigative journalist Georgianne Nienaber. Although Fossey’s death is officially unsolved, recently released documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, as well as testimony from the International War Crimes Tribunal proceedings, offer new suspects, motives, and opportunities. Every fact about Fossey’s life is meticulously annotated.[citation needed] However, the setting of her conversations with the murdered gorillas is obviously fictional, yet steeped in Rwandan tradition.[citation needed]

More recently, the Kentucky Opera Visions Program, in Louisville, has written an opera about Fossey. The opera, entitled Nyiramachabelli, premiered on May 23, 2006.

A book called the Dark Romance of Dian Fossey was published in 1989 and compares the story of Fossey with versions as seen by others. However, much of the book is uncited and it repeats the salacious and racist stories created by her detractors. Rosamond Carr, former head of the orphanage in Gisenyi who saved the lives of more than a thousand children and who knew Fossey, states in her biography (Land of a Thousand Hills) that the "Dark Romance" book was based on plain lies, just as the article which preceded it and proved to be particularly damaging. For instance, the book claims that Fossey became a racist because, as stated in the book, she was gang-raped by Rwandan soldiers - an event that Fossey and her friends repeatedly and vehemently denied.

She is also prominently featured in a book by the Vanity Fair journalist Alex Shoumatoff called African Madness. Rosamond Carr was equally dismissive of that book's presentation of facts.[15]

Film biography

Universal Studios bought the film rights to Gorillas in the Mist from Fossey in 1985, and Warner Bros. Studios bought the rights to the Hayes article, despite its having been severely criticized by Rosamond Carr. As a result of a legal battle between the two studios, a co-production was arranged.

Portions of Gorillas in the Mist and the Hayes article were adapted for Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey (1988), starring Sigourney Weaver. The book had covered Fossey's scientific career in great detail and omitted material on her personal life, such as her affair with photographer Bob Campbell. In the film, however, the affair with Campbell (played by Bryan Brown) formed a major subplot.

The Hayes article had portrayed Fossey as a woman completely obsessed with "her" gorillas, who would stop at nothing to protect them. And indeed the film included a fictitious scene in which Fossey orchestrated the mock hanging of a poacher, and another where she burned poachers' huts. It also introduced fictional characters, such as the animal trader Van Vecten, and changed the names of Fossey's students.

After making Gorillas in the Mist, Weaver became a supporter of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, and is now its Honorary Chair.[16]

Quotes

Written works

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Dian Fossey Life". Gorilla Fund. http://www.gorillafund.org/dian_fossey/dian_fossey_life.php. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
  2. ^ "Dian Fossey text". National Geographic. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1981/dian-fossey-text/2. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Mowat, Farley. Woman in the Mists: The Story of Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas of Africa. Warner Books, 1987.
  4. ^ a b Fossey, Dian : Gorillas in the Mist. 1983
  5. ^ "Dian Fossey text - P5". National Geographic. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1981/dian-fossey-text/5. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
  6. ^ "Dian Fossey text - P6". National Geographic. http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/07/archive/fossey-gorillas-1981/dian-fossey-text/6. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
  7. ^ "The Real Dian Fossey". Big Wave TV. http://www.bigwavetv.com/programs/dian_fossey.html. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Karisoke Revisited - A Study of Dian Fossey". innominatesociety.com. http://www.innominatesociety.com/Articles/Karisoke%20Revisited.htm. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
  9. ^ a b c d e "Dian Fossey". Webster.edu. http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/fossey.html. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
  10. ^ Current Biography, Jill Kadetsky, 1991, p. 121
  11. ^ About Dian Fossey - Info about the Life of Dian Fossey - DFGFI
  12. ^ "Dian Fossey". dian-fossey.com. http://www.dian-fossey.com/. Retrieved 2009-12-14.
  13. ^ Salak, Kira. ""PLACES OF DARKNESS: AFRICA'S MOUNTAIN GORILLAS"". National Geographic Adventure. http://www.kirasalak.com/Darkness.html.
  14. ^ Salak, Kira. "Photos from "PLACES OF DARKNESS: AFRICA'S MOUNTAIN GORILLAS"". National Geographic Adventure. http://www.kirasalak.com/PhotosRwandaGorillas.html.
  15. ^ Carr, Rosamond. Land of a Thousand Hills. Blackstone, 2002.
  16. ^ The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International

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