by
Jane Dewar
We like to keep this site updated from time to time and frequently we add or change parts of the website, without changing the entire thing. For the latest news, these updates are the place to come!
Construction
continues more or less as we’ve planned.
We’re having structural engineers check out details of the
containment wall and buildings. Support buildings, like a maintenance building
and veterinary and locker-room for staff are the first buildings up. We’re
installing a dry hydrant in Lake Bwindi (a spring-fed pond on the property),
which will help in emergency fire situations, and other support buildings,
fencing, etc, are being done making this place one busy place indeed!
If everything goes 100% perfectly and the weather cooperates, we hope we’ll have at least one gorilla villa ready for occupancy by the end of 2000! If not, the spring of 2001 seems to be more feasible.
In
May, Gorilla Haven will have a poster at the Great Ape Conference in Chicago,
explaining how GH isn’t just a sanctuary for zoo gorillas, but is also
active in education and conservation around the world. Afterwards, our Project Manager, Pete Halliday will give a
presentation to the Gorilla Species Survival Plan, so the decision-makers in
the zoo world will have an opportunity to see our plans and philosophy first
hand.
The
biggest challenge to explain to people who don’t know Steuart or me, is the
motivation behind GH. It’s easy
to dismiss us as eccentrics who want gorillas in their back yards and when we
state our ultimate goal, some people cannot grasp just how or why we’d go to
this much trouble, and spend this much money helping a few animals.
Indeed,
some people are totally baffled when they learn not only are we not going to
earn a penny from housing gorillas at GH, but to the contrary, we are going to
be spending our own life savings to fund this project!
Initially, there will be no cost to zoos until or unless we get too
many gorillas, which we don’t see happening for a while. At
that time, zoos – who will still own and therefore ultimately control the
gorillas – will be asked to pay a small stipend, which should be far less
than they pay to maintain the gorilla at their zoo.
THE
GOAL OF GORILLA HAVEN: To
have no animals at the GH facility, since this would mean they were
all in happy, social settings in zoos, on display to help educate the public
about the plight of gorillas in the wild.
Since
captive born gorillas can never be released back in Africa, no matter how
romantic and ideal that sounds to us all, learning how to make their captive
environment more enriching and rewarding is critical.
And since no gorillas can leave Africa (due to the CITES restrictions,
in place to prevent further destruction of habitats and populations by
eliminating any chance of a gorilla leaving Africa legally), GH is also
committed to helping gorillas in the rare sanctuaries in Africa, who take care
of bushmeat orphans, like the Limbe Wildlife Center in Cameroon.
Obviously,
our ideal goal is to have gorillas living happily, naturally and without
threat in their native habitats, but with the problems facing the African
nations which are home to the gorilla, this may not be realistic in the long
term. The bushmeat trade,
wars, genocide, deforestation, habitat encroachment by ever-expanding human
populations, etc., are all conspiring to destroy gorillas in the wild before
too long.
Some
organizations are committed to helping save habitats and see our attempts to
help individual animals as a waste of our money and efforts.
Yet we don’t agree. We
think BOTH issues need to be addressed and we fully support habitat
preservation, while we also support what some call “band-aid” solutions
like wildlife orphanages in Africa. Sure,
orphanages aren’t the answer and ultimately without saving habitat the
planet is doomed. Like a good entrepreneurial business, GH has identified a
tiny niche of the “marketplace” of helping to save wildlife/the
environment and our business plan is geared to properly being able to
accomplish our goals.
We
can’t save the world, but if we can save a tiny part of it, then we will
feel we’ve accomplished something.
Our
website is becoming very popular among students and I answer each and every
email personally, as soon as possible (usually the same day, unless I’m
traveling and therefore not on email). Sometimes
students ask me to answer questions for a project and the answers are found on
our website. Instead of doing
their homework for them, I direct them back to the website and our links and
encourage them to THINK for themselves by doing their own research, and offer
my help for anything they can’t figure out.
The response is wonderful and most students are empowered once they
learn to find answers themselves, using the vast resources of the Internet.
We
don’t print up fancy brochures or do mailings like other wildlife
organizations, preferring to use our money to help gorillas in a variety of
ways and using our website as our source of information.
Any suggestions on how we can improve the website is always
appreciated, as are the many kind emails of support we receive daily!