My 9th Birthday Gorilla Fundraiser Was a HUGE Success!
I am very happy to say that I didn't only reach my goal of raising $760 so that I could adopt one Silverback Mountain Gorilla and one mother infant pair from The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International as well as all 12 Western Lowland Gorillas at the OKC Zoo, I exceeded it by $196! This extension to my fundraiser has extended my opportunities to be able to adopt a Sub-Adult Male (teenager) Mountain Gorilla as well as an infant Mountain Gorilla from The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International!
In total, I have adopted 17 new gorillas which means I have adopted 18 if I include Sakara who Santa helped me adopt this past Christmas. I adopted the Silverback, Mother/Infant pair and Sub-adult male on May 29th and all of the zoo gorillas on May 30th. June 1st I adopted the additional Mountain Gorilla infant. I have a little extra money left over so I am going to donate to an additional cause which you can read about here. Chimpanzees in Liberia have been abandoned by a company who used them for medical research. Now they need help with food, water and basic medical care. If you feel like you are able, you might want to send a few dollars their way as well. I am sure the chimps will appreciate that. On Saturday, my birthday, I got to meet and speak with Dr. Tara Stoinski for about 30 minutes. She is the President and CEO of The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International and has done a LOT of research on gorillas. She has spent many years educating people about their behavior and what we can do to help grow their population. She was very nice and answered my questions about how she got to where she is, what kind of education she received and what inspired her to work with gorillas. I feel very honored to meet her and have time with such a busy person. Thank you again to all who donated and shared my website. I also appreciated all of the cheers you gave me along the way. I love gorillas so much and am grateful so many people helped my efforts to Save the Primates. |
New Zoo Friends!These are my new friends at the OKC Zoo! Pace (Primate Keeper), Brian (Elephant Keeper) and Stephanie (Primate Keeper). Pace and Stephanie were the cool people who told me about Dr. Stoinski coming and put me in touch with Executive Director at the Zoo. She is the one who invited me to meet Dr. Stoinski!
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Sakara - My First AdoptionThis is Sakara. He is the first infant Mountain Gorilla I adopted Christmas of 2014 from The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (DFGFI). He is now four years old!
From the DFGFI: Ikaze gave birth for the first time to a son now named "Sakara," which means "known everywhere," a wish that the story of gorilla conservation will be known world-wide. |
Conservationist Friends!I had the chance to meet two other kids at Dr. Stoinski's event who love to help Save the Primates as well! Hannah and Cameron are passionate about helping save Orangutans and their habitat and do several fundraisers of their own.
Did you know that there are a LOT of companies who harvest palm oil in a way that isn't sustainable? They are ruining Orangutans habitat with the practices they use so it's important to learn which companies and products you can purchase that are made in a sustainable way. That way you know you aren't harming the Orangutans but are helping to Save the Primates by the choices you make while shopping. Click here to visit a site where you can find which products and companies make the grade and which ones don't. |