“It’s your 60th birthday and this gift had to be really special and it had to represent who you are and what you really care about,” Portia explained. “Not just now, but what you’ve always cared about. What you were influenced by and what has made you the amazing person that you are today. So, I combined that and questions when we first met like who’s your idol? And what would you do if you weren’t a talk show host?”

She then told DeGeneres: “So, I combined that with the fact that literally guys, for like the last two years, Ellen has said to me I feel like I’m not doing enough. Every day, almost. So, I put all that together and I got you this gift. So, let’s see it – happy birthday!”

A video then played in which Portia talks about Ellen’s hero, Dian Fossey, and her dedication to animals.

“So, for your birthday, Ellen, I am bringing you and your hero, Dian, together by building The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund,” Porita continued. “Ellen, you will carry on Dian’s legacy by giving them a permanent home in Rwanda. Now, you will join Dian as a protector and champion of these amazing animals, the mountain gorillas. Happy birthday!”

But that’s not all! Portia then said, “I have also set up a foundation in your name called The Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund. So, this is the first initiative for the fund that you can take this and do whatever you want with it. You’ve done amazing work for elephants and you can just continue and support whatever you want to do.”

Ellen Degeneres’ hero has long been Dian Fossey, the famous Mountain gorilla researcher and pioneer conservationist who worked in the Virunga mountains until her tragic murder in 1985.

The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund will be a permanent facility for scientists, who are helping to save one of the world’s most at-risk species. Just 880 gorillas remain in the mist-shrouded mountains of Rwanda and the neighbouring countries of Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo.

In a press release the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund explains: “The campus will allow the to expand science, research and conservation activities; enhance educational programs; and engage people from Rwanda and the world to join the effort on behalf of wild gorillas. Its design will include laboratories, classrooms, meeting space, an interactive exhibit focusing on Fossey’s work, and housing for visiting researchers and students.”

You can learn more about The Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund HERE.

The post TV Host Ellen DeGeneres Helps Gorillas With A Conservation Centre In Her Name appeared first on African Conservation Foundation.

Mountain gorillas live in two isolated regions: the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park (BINP) in Uganda and the Virungas, bounded by Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are now threatened by the increased risk of disease transmission from humans and livestock.

Students from The Royal Veterinary College, in London, have completed research to identify if critically endangered mountain gorillas have contracted human diseases.

Precautions are now required to avoid interspecies transmission of ‘novel’ pathogens amongst several mountain gorilla groups in these regions. This is because, in 1993 the gorillas in BINP were habituated to humans to promote wildlife tourism and behavioural research. This process led to gorillas venturing outside protected regions to forage.

Previous surveys in these gorilla populations detected specific parasites, including Cryptosporidium. A team of undergraduate and postgraduate students from the RVC have now carried out a molecular study of single-celled parasites infecting mountain gorillas, cattle, goats and humans from 15 sites in and around BINP.

RVC students detected various pathogens, including low levels of Cryptosporidium parvum in gorilla and goats, and Giardia duodenalis in humans and cattle. Previous studies suggest these pathogens are zoonotic, meaning they can be passed from animals to humans, and vice-versa.

The RVC therefore recommends further work is required to better understand these hygiene systems and explore the discrepancies between published studies.

Professor Damer Blake, a parasite geneticist at the RVC, said: “Expanding this work to assess the flow of bacterial and viral pathogens will be valuable, and help enhance welfare practices as well as hygiene policies employed by those who interact with animals in a professional capacity.”

Dr. Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka, a veterinarian who graduated from RVC, and founder of Conservation Through Public Health, said “After fatal scabies outbreaks in mountain gorillas were traced to people living around BINP, we started to proactively prevent and control cross species disease transmission by improving the health of local communities and conducting such studies with RVC students. We are pleased that this collaboration is enabling us to generate important information to protect this critically
endangered species.”

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Many people are ignoring the core motivation of mountain gorilla conservation; which the Rwanda Development Board must uphold above everyone else’s interests. Rwanda’s mountain gorilla tourism has become very popular with so many tourists flocking the country for gorilla safaris in the Volcanoes National Park.

For many visitors, Rwanda offers a convenient access with just 2 hours drive from Kigali international airport to Volcanoes National Park. This provides a very good option for visitors on business, budget and on connecting flights to BIG 5 destinations of Kenya or Tanzania marking Rwanda a hotspot destination for mountain gorilla trekking in East Africa.

With the high numbers of visitors flocking the country to watch gorillas in the jungle, the Rwandan government has to protect the interests of the gorillas and must regulate the numbers so as to minimize the negative impacts on mountain gorillas’ health and well being in the wild.

As stated in the IUCN Red List, gorillas are one of the most endangered primates. Mountain gorillas are critically endangered apes whose protection and long-term conservation strongly depend on effective management of wild populations and continuous revenue generation from ecotourism.

The Rwanda Development Board is working together with the park management and understands the risks that disease transmission can kill Mountain gorillas. Hence they have adopted strict rules to reduce the threat by strictly maintaining a distance, wearing gloves, protective masks not discarding any waste in the gorilla habitat.

Human intrusion in the gorilla habitat presents a critical threat in the form of transmission of interspecies diseases, which can have a disastrous impact on the lives of the gorillas. Primates have a very high risk of contracting disease from tourists and researchers due to human – primates genetic similarities.

A number of rules and guidelines have been put in place to help curb interspecies disease transmission, but realistically many of the regulations are protecting tourists rather than primates, researchers Chris Sandbrook and Stuart Semple found out in 2006.

Rwanda Development Board recognizes the impact of gorilla tourism on income generation for the conservation of mountain gorillas. The funds generated are needed to pay for veterinary projects, including monitoring and treating the gorillas for injuries and illness in the forest (Stoinski, 2015). Without veterinary intervention, the growth rates of the gorilla populations could be less than 50% of what is observed today (Robbins et al., 2011). Veterinary efforts have shown to be effective and vital to gorilla conservation.

The Rwanda government cannot stop gorilla tourism completely as it provides substantial funding for gorilla conservation projects, but it aims to regulate numbers by increasing the price of Rwanda gorilla permits so that the number of visitors goes down without losing revenues. With fewer people purchasing gorilla permits at higher prices it will reduce the number of people visiting gorillas at the same time, while raising enough revenue to support conservation projects so that gorillas are protected.

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