Digit Fund
Encyclopedia
The Digit Fund was created by Dr. Dian Fossey
in 1978 for the sole purpose of financing her anti-poaching patrols and preventing further poaching
of the endangered mountain gorilla
s Fossey studied at her Karisoke Research Center in the Virunga Volcanoes of Rwanda
. The nonprofit fund was named in memory of Fossey's favourite gorilla
, Digit, who was decapitated by poachers for the offer of US$20 by a Hutu
merchant who specialized in selling gorilla heads as trophies and gorilla hands as ashtray
s to tourists.
1977, Fossey's favourite gorilla, Digit, was killed by poachers. As the sentry of study group 4, he defended the group against six poachers and their dogs, who ran across the gorilla study group while checking antelope
traplines. Digit took five spear wounds in ferocious self-defense and managed to kill one of the poachers' dogs, allowing the other 13 members of his group to escape. Digit was decapitated, and his hands cut off for an ashtray, for the price of $20. After his mutilated body was discovered by research assistant Ian Redmond, Fossey's group captured one of the killers. He revealed the names of his five accomplices, three of whom were later imprisoned.
Fossey subsequently created the Digit Fund to raise money for anti-poaching patrols. It was renamed The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International in 1992.
Fossey mostly opposed the efforts of the international organizations, which she felt inefficiently directed their funds towards more equipment for Rwandan park officials some of whom were alleged to have ordered some of the gorilla poachings in the first place. Digit's death had a profound effect on her approach to conservationism, and she commented that "I have tried not to allow myself to think of Digit's anguish, pain and the total comprehension he must have suffered in knowing what humans were doing to him.
From that moment on, I came to live within an insulated part of myself."
and TV presenter David Attenborough
, who approached conservation organizations located in the UK including the Fauna Preservation Society (FPS) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which declined Fossey's request in favor of supporting an approach emphasizing tourism to Rwanda. At Wrangham's request, FPS launched an appeal in response to Digit's death which the group subsequently named the Mountain Gorilla Fund for better name recognition; FPS chose to direct the funds to Rwandan park officials rather than Fossey's on-the-ground efforts. Fossey became frustrated as many international donors contributed funds in memory of Digit which were directed by international conservation organizations towards the construction of roads or the purchase of new vehicles for park conservation officials, who in many cases were bribed by poachers to look the other way from illegal activities and, according to Fossey, rarely ventured into the park at all. When payments for Fossey's articles on Digit's death were accidentally directed to the FPS Mountain Gorilla Fund rather than to her, FPS declined to redirect the money towards Fossey or her initiative. To coordinate donations to Rwandan authorities, FPS enlisted Fossey's former student and apprentice and one of her chief detractors, Sandy Harcourt.
On her first trip to the United States after the poachings of Group 4, Fossey enlisted the aid of the National Geographic Society
, which pledged $5,000, as did the World Wildlife Fund, over the objections of some of its members who had heard rumors of Fossey's anti-poaching patrols and other tactics she used against poaching. Fossey asked her friend Robinson McIlvaine
, the head of the nonprofit African Wildlife Leadership Foundation, to serve as secretary-treasurer of the Digit Fund until she could find a salaried executive director to assume control over the operations. McIlvaine partnered with the International Primate Protection League
, the Digit Fund, and his own African Wildlife Leadership Foundation asking for funds, to be made out to the AWLF. The Digit Fund received none of the money, and McIlvaine suggested to Fossey that the Digit Fund could be folded into AWLF, which Fossey declined; McIlvaine resigned as secretary-treasurer of the Digit Fund.
Dr. Shirley McGreal, head of the IPPL, had allowed IPPL's co-sponsorship of the letter only to help the Digit Fund and blames the misunderstanding on Fossey being taken advantage of in the wake of2 her gorillas' deaths and never viewing the gorillas' deaths as a way for her to personally profit. McGreal volunteered to serve as secretary-treasurer in the wake of McIlvaine's resignation from the post. Through the seeming partnership of AWLF/Digit Fund, funds contributed to the Digit Fund by philanthropist Gordon Hanes and by students under the supervision of primatologist Geza Teleki came under the auspices of AWLF, not the Digit Fund. The US ambassador to Rwanda submitted a proposal in 1980 for Karisoke Research Center to be removed from Fossey's control and placed under a mountain gorilla consortium led by AWLF while Fossey was in America finishing her book.
While she had lost control of funds raised in Britain after Digit's death to the Fauna Preservation Society, Fossey managed to keep the control of the Digit Fund in the United States until her death. After Fossey was murdered, the Digit Fund in the USA was renamed "The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International," and the Digit Fund in the UK was renamed the "Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Europe" and later "The Gorilla Organization".
The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International continues to operate the Karisoke Research Center, which Fossey founded in 1967, with daily gorilla monitoring and patrols.
Dian Fossey
Dian Fossey was an American zoologist who undertook an extensive study of gorilla groups over a period of 18 years. She studied them daily in the mountain forests of Rwanda, initially encouraged to work there by famous anthropologist Louis Leakey...
in 1978 for the sole purpose of financing her anti-poaching patrols and preventing further poaching
Poaching
Poaching is the illegal taking of wild plants or animals contrary to local and international conservation and wildlife management laws. Violations of hunting laws and regulations are normally punishable by law and, collectively, such violations are known as poaching.It may be illegal and in...
of the endangered mountain gorilla
Mountain Gorilla
The Mountain Gorilla is one of the two subspecies of the Eastern Gorilla. There are two populations. One is found in the Virunga volcanic mountains of Central Africa, within three National Parks: Mgahinga, in south-west Uganda; Volcanoes, in north-west Rwanda; and Virunga in the eastern Democratic...
s Fossey studied at her Karisoke Research Center in the Virunga Volcanoes of Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
. The nonprofit fund was named in memory of Fossey's favourite gorilla
Gorilla
Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
, Digit, who was decapitated by poachers for the offer of US$20 by a Hutu
Hutu
The Hutu , or Abahutu, are a Central African people, living mainly in Rwanda, Burundi, and eastern DR Congo.-Population statistics:The Hutu are the largest of the three peoples in Burundi and Rwanda; according to the United States Central Intelligence Agency, 84% of Rwandans and 85% of Burundians...
merchant who specialized in selling gorilla heads as trophies and gorilla hands as ashtray
Ashtray
An ashtray is a receptacle for ash and butts from cigarettes and cigars. Ashtrays are typically made of fireproof material such as glass, heat-resistant plastic, pottery, metal, or rock....
s to tourists.
Background
Sometime during the day on New Year's EveNew Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
1977, Fossey's favourite gorilla, Digit, was killed by poachers. As the sentry of study group 4, he defended the group against six poachers and their dogs, who ran across the gorilla study group while checking antelope
Antelope
Antelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...
traplines. Digit took five spear wounds in ferocious self-defense and managed to kill one of the poachers' dogs, allowing the other 13 members of his group to escape. Digit was decapitated, and his hands cut off for an ashtray, for the price of $20. After his mutilated body was discovered by research assistant Ian Redmond, Fossey's group captured one of the killers. He revealed the names of his five accomplices, three of whom were later imprisoned.
Fossey subsequently created the Digit Fund to raise money for anti-poaching patrols. It was renamed The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International in 1992.
Fossey mostly opposed the efforts of the international organizations, which she felt inefficiently directed their funds towards more equipment for Rwandan park officials some of whom were alleged to have ordered some of the gorilla poachings in the first place. Digit's death had a profound effect on her approach to conservationism, and she commented that "I have tried not to allow myself to think of Digit's anguish, pain and the total comprehension he must have suffered in knowing what humans were doing to him.
From that moment on, I came to live within an insulated part of myself."
Financing
Busy with her research in Africa, Fossey enlisted the help of her friends, primatologist Richard WranghamRichard Wrangham
Richard W. Wrangham is a British primatologist. He is the Ruth Moore Professor of Biological Anthropology at Harvard University and his research group is now part of the newly established Department of Human Evolutionary Biology....
and TV presenter David Attenborough
David Attenborough
Sir David Frederick Attenborough OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS, FZS, FSA is a British broadcaster and naturalist. His career as the face and voice of natural history programmes has endured for more than 50 years...
, who approached conservation organizations located in the UK including the Fauna Preservation Society (FPS) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which declined Fossey's request in favor of supporting an approach emphasizing tourism to Rwanda. At Wrangham's request, FPS launched an appeal in response to Digit's death which the group subsequently named the Mountain Gorilla Fund for better name recognition; FPS chose to direct the funds to Rwandan park officials rather than Fossey's on-the-ground efforts. Fossey became frustrated as many international donors contributed funds in memory of Digit which were directed by international conservation organizations towards the construction of roads or the purchase of new vehicles for park conservation officials, who in many cases were bribed by poachers to look the other way from illegal activities and, according to Fossey, rarely ventured into the park at all. When payments for Fossey's articles on Digit's death were accidentally directed to the FPS Mountain Gorilla Fund rather than to her, FPS declined to redirect the money towards Fossey or her initiative. To coordinate donations to Rwandan authorities, FPS enlisted Fossey's former student and apprentice and one of her chief detractors, Sandy Harcourt.
On her first trip to the United States after the poachings of Group 4, Fossey enlisted the aid of the National Geographic Society
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
, which pledged $5,000, as did the World Wildlife Fund, over the objections of some of its members who had heard rumors of Fossey's anti-poaching patrols and other tactics she used against poaching. Fossey asked her friend Robinson McIlvaine
Robinson McIlvaine
Robinson McIlvaine was a career US diplomat who was President of the African Wildlife Foundation from 1978 to 1982.-Early years:McIlvaine was born in Downingtown, Pennsylvania in 1913. He graduated from Harvard College....
, the head of the nonprofit African Wildlife Leadership Foundation, to serve as secretary-treasurer of the Digit Fund until she could find a salaried executive director to assume control over the operations. McIlvaine partnered with the International Primate Protection League
International Primate Protection League
The International Primate Protection League , founded in 1973 in Thailand by Dr. Shirley McGreal, is represented in 31 countries and has offices in the UK and the US, and works toward the well being of non-human primates...
, the Digit Fund, and his own African Wildlife Leadership Foundation asking for funds, to be made out to the AWLF. The Digit Fund received none of the money, and McIlvaine suggested to Fossey that the Digit Fund could be folded into AWLF, which Fossey declined; McIlvaine resigned as secretary-treasurer of the Digit Fund.
Dr. Shirley McGreal, head of the IPPL, had allowed IPPL's co-sponsorship of the letter only to help the Digit Fund and blames the misunderstanding on Fossey being taken advantage of in the wake of2 her gorillas' deaths and never viewing the gorillas' deaths as a way for her to personally profit. McGreal volunteered to serve as secretary-treasurer in the wake of McIlvaine's resignation from the post. Through the seeming partnership of AWLF/Digit Fund, funds contributed to the Digit Fund by philanthropist Gordon Hanes and by students under the supervision of primatologist Geza Teleki came under the auspices of AWLF, not the Digit Fund. The US ambassador to Rwanda submitted a proposal in 1980 for Karisoke Research Center to be removed from Fossey's control and placed under a mountain gorilla consortium led by AWLF while Fossey was in America finishing her book.
While she had lost control of funds raised in Britain after Digit's death to the Fauna Preservation Society, Fossey managed to keep the control of the Digit Fund in the United States until her death. After Fossey was murdered, the Digit Fund in the USA was renamed "The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International," and the Digit Fund in the UK was renamed the "Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Europe" and later "The Gorilla Organization".
Activities
Through the Digit Fund, Fossey financed patrols to destroy poachers' traps among the mountains of Virunga. In four months in 1979, the Fossey patrol consisting of four African staffers destroyed 987 poachers' traps in the research area's vicinity. The official Rwandan national park guards, consisting of 24 staffers, did not catch any poachers' traps during the same period.The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International continues to operate the Karisoke Research Center, which Fossey founded in 1967, with daily gorilla monitoring and patrols.