GA4

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

MOUNTAIN GORILLAS - Rwanda honours mountain gorilla researcher Fossey

Reuters AlertNet has an article on the Rwandan commemoration of the life and work of Dian Fossey which was held this week. Fossey was murdered on December 26, 1985 after living in the jungles of Rwanda for some 18 years with the primates.
Rwandan officials commemorated the life and the 20th anniversary of the death of famed primate researcher Dian Fossey with dances and speeches in the rural highlands where she studied the mountain gorillas she loved.

Government officials and locals held traditional dances, gave speeches and laid wreaths at the site where Fossey, who was killed in mysterious circumstances in 1985, was buried.

Fossey's work inspired the 1988 Hollywood film Gorillas in the Mist, starring Sigourney Weaver and has provided Rwanda's economy with an enduring lure for tourist dollars.