Dian Fossey

(www.cbc.ca)

Dian Fossey is a great inspiration! Dian did all these wonderful things for gorillas. She risked her life to save gorillas. Dian Fossey stuck with her dream when people told her to leave. She gave up all her money to go to Africa and she inspires me and other people to help animals. She did die because she was protecting gorillas. She was killed by a hunter wanting to get to the gorillas. This is why Dian Fossey is a great inspiration.

Dian Fossey was an only child born on January 16, 1932. It was the time of the Great Depression; and it was a sad time for her family. Her father, George, loved nature and loved spending time in nature. Sadly he developed a drinking problem. Dian’s mother, Kitty, did not like George’s behavior, so they got a divorce. That was the end of that. Soon Kitty remarried to a man named Richard Price. Richard was not the kindest man around. He would not let Dian have a pet. At last she got a pet. It was a goldfish and Dian loved that fish. Sadly in one day the fish Dian loved and cared for died. Dian’s parents wanted her to study business. She did, but she failed. Soon Dian got a summer job at a horse barn in Montana. She cherished all the horses in that barn. Dian wanted to be a vet but that would need a Masters Degree. She decided that she needed to go to college. She got her degree at San Jose State College, where she studied O.T. which got her a job at a child’s hospital in California. She soon made a friend named Mary White Henry. She showed Dian her family, Dian thought they were wonderful! Mary had told Dian about her trip to Africa. Dian wanted to go to Africa. Soon she got the money to go. Her first trip was just a vacation. But her first and last trip was when she studied gorillas with a scientist named Dr. Louis Leakey.

Dian didn’t have any experience with animals. This was a problem. But other scientists helped her, such as Mary Leakey, Louis Leakey’s wife. And her parents didn’t want her to go to Africa. They wanted her to settle down and start a family, but she couldn’t let gorillas live like that. When she got there she stayed there for awhile and then her favorite gorilla died. She was so sad but she knew that she had to save the other gorillas. Then the hunters came. They told her to leave but she didn’t what to go. She stayed there to save gorillas, and that’s what she did.

Dian wasn’t really given any trophies. But she did start the Digit Foundation to save gorillas; and she worked with Jane Goodall, her husband, and the Leakey’s. Dian wrote stories about gorillas and what they did in the jungle. One of her books became a movie and was a big hit!

One thing that will be remembered about Dian Fossey is she provided care for gorillas. She was the first person to make physical contact with a gorilla that showed she wanted to make a connection with them. And she was hard working. She climbed a mountain to see gorillas. Dian made forts to look after and study the gorillas. She was very smart even though she didn’t go to college; but she did go at one point to finally get a degree in zoology. She studied years with gorillas and learned so much.

Dian Fossey is smart, caring, hard working, and able to overcome many things in her life. Dian has saved gorillas everywhere. Even though she died she has helped more gorillas than anyone else will in a lifetime. The Digit Foundation will help gorillas and inspire people for years to come.