56 years ago, a courageous, enthusiastic, and visionary woman, Dian Fossey, founded the Karisoke Research Centre in Rwanda, where she lived with gorillas for nearly 20 years. In her honour, September 24 is commemorated as World Gorilla Day with the aim of continuing her legacy of raising awareness of the importance of protecting and promoting the conservation of gorillas. Fossey was cruelly murdered because of her stubborn fight, but with her book “Gorillas in the Mist” and the subsequent biopic starring Sigourney Weaver, she managed to share that unconditional love for the beauty of nature and, especially, to awaken interest in this giant of the great apes. Today I can see with hope how the mountain gorilla gradually recovers thanks to the international conservation effort.
Following this example to commit to the protection of threatened species, BIOPARC Fuengirola and Valencia established groups of gorillas for the first time in Andalusia in 2004 and in Valencia in 2007 to contribute to the survival of this critically endangered species. As part of the European program that coordinates their controlled reproduction, the good news began with the birth of the first gorillas. The positive contribution of the BIOPARC continues, now housing fifteen gorillas, making it the largest group of gorillas in Spain. Observing the natural behaviour of these primates, their games, and interactions, in an environment that guarantees their well-being by faithfully recreating their habitats of origin, is a unique opportunity to encourage society to protect them. The BIOPARCs represent a new concept of animal parks and were created with the purpose of bringing nature closer to cities, from lush forests to the seabed at the Gijón Aquarium.
And if the BIOPARCs manage to take visitors to the idyllic jungles that Dian Fossey fell in love with, the BIOPARC Foundation works right there, in the heart of Africa. In this case, the focus has been placed on an area of special interest because of its invaluable natural wealth, as is considered a “hot spot” of biodiversity.The Ebo Forest Research Project focuses its work on this jewel of Cameroon, a virgin jungle that was discovered just 21 years ago and is home to a group of gorillas that are extremely threatened. The BIOPARC Foundation, as the only representative of Spain, joined a particularly important international mobilization that managed to stop this terrible and devastating threat. A victory that also opens hope to maintain the momentum for the preservation of our planet.