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Zoo de la Palmyre, France, raises funds for YoG project |
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Wednesday, 21 October 2009 12:36 |
 2009 is definitely the year of the gorilla at La Palmyre Zoo. After the opening of its new apes exhibit in spring, followed by the birth of a delightful baby gorilla at the end of June, the zoo started its Year of the Gorilla photo contest in early summer. Visitors were invited to send in photos for the contest and donated 5€ per photo entered in the competition. Participants had the opportunity to compete in 2 different categories (gorilla pictures taken in zoos or in the wild). Results and winning pictures can be found on the zoo's website.
Also, an information stand located just in front of the new ape enclosure offered a variety of information as well as selling different gorilla products such as T-shirts, cuddly toys, wooden gorillas from Rwanda, posters, postcards, newspapers for kids etc… Finally, a giant gorilla moneybox collected more than 2,000 euros!
Visitors showed a clear interest for gorilla conservation issues. Several large panels installed near the stand allowed people to inform themselves about the Year of the Gorilla campaign, as well as learn more about the gorilla subspecies, the threats they face in the wild and the different ways of becoming active for their protection.
In all, La Palmyre zoo, amember of YoG-partner WAZA, collected €13.000. The money will be used to support community-based anti-poaching activities in the Mbe Mountains of Nigeria and Cameroon, helping conserve the last remaining Cross River Gorillas.
Background information on the supported projects
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Gorilla warfare: The battle to save one of Africa's rarest animals |
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Wednesday, 21 October 2009 09:47 |
 Many of the world's remaining Mountain Gorillas live in Eastern Congo's Virunga National Park. A battle is being fought between the park rangers who protect these extraordinary animals and the criminal gangs who are burning down their habitat around them.
The sound of the first crack stops the patrol dead. Halfway up the 3,407 metres of the Nyiragongo volcano, the rangers fan out in the direction of the chopping noise, leaving the path of shattered lava for the dense forest, assault rifles at the ready.
For a few minutes, the silence is broken only by the sharp reports of blade on wood. Then a confusion of voices, followed quickly by the sound of bodies crashing through the undergrowth towards us. The one ranger remaining on the path has no rifle so instead draws a machete. There is no way to know who or what is coming....
Read on (full article by Daniel Howden) on The Independent homepage.
To vote for a YoG-supported World Challenge project which aims to reduce consumption of firewood and charcoal in Mountaun Gorilla habitat, click here. Out of nearly a thousand nominations, the project in the area surrounding the Virunga National Park has been selected as one of only twelve finalists. Voting takes only ten seconds and does not require registration. Winning the $20 000 prize money in the World Challenge competition would fund this vital project for an entire year, so PLEASE VOTE!! |
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Ian Redmond concludes US lecture tour for YoG |
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Friday, 16 October 2009 08:44 |
Ian Redmond, Year of the Gorilla Ambassador, has concluded his US lecture and fundraising tour. He started out on the West Coast, speaking in San Francisco, San Diego and the LA area and finished with a press event at the German Embassay in Washington DC.
Redmond's talk is built around the fact that large mammals like gorillas and elephants are keystone species in habitats that provide ecosystem services like fresh water and clean air for the whole planet. Gorillas fertilize and disperse seeds through their dung, which regenerates the forests. Saving the gorillas will help preserve these ecosystems that directly determine human survival.
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PRESS RELEASE - Carbon finance is key to better protection of gorillas and elephants to maintain health of African rainforests says UN Ambassador |
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Monday, 12 October 2009 11:53 |
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 To download this press release as a Pdf-file, click here.
Washington/Bonn, 13 October 2009 - - The United Nations Ambassador for the Year of the Gorilla, Ian Redmond, has called for the inclusion of gorillas and elephants, as important components in African rainforests, in the upcoming climate negotiations in Copenhagen.
Large mammals, such as elephants and gorillas, are keystone species in their relevant ecosystems. Gorillas act as ‘gardeners’ in the rainforests of the Congo Basin, and protecting them helps prevent loss of flora that are ecologically dependent on them.
Gorillas are second only to elephants in the number of seeds they disperse each day in the forests of Africa. When eating fruit and seeds, the seeds pass through their system and are in this way prepared for germination.
UN Ambassador, Ian Redmond, who has just returned from a fact-finding mission across eight African gorilla range states said: “The gorillas and elephants of Africa are doing the world a service. UNEP has just succeeded in its Seven Billion Tree campaign, but I would estimate that the apes and elephants of Africa disperse some seven billion seeds every day! The full extent of the role they play in maintaining the health of their forest habitat - a central component of the Earth’s climate regulation -is still poorly understood.” For a selection of relevant videos, click here. |
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YoG Patron and Ambassador meet at wildlife fundraiser in San Francisco |
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Tuesday, 06 October 2009 07:59 |
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 YoG Patron Dr. Jane Goodall and YoG Ambassador Ian Redmond met at the Wildlife Conservation Network annual fundraiser in San Francisco on Sunday.
Ian Redmond is currently touring the US (especially California) to raise awareness and funds for gorilla conservation (see Event Calendar for details). To read Ian's full account of the encounter and his current YoG activities in the US, please go to the YoG blog. |
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