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POSTED ON BEHALF OF GLADYS PORTER ZOO:

A conservation fund has been set up in memory of Harambe, the majestic young male Western lowland gorilla who tragically lost his life on May 28, 2016. While the unfortunate set of circumstances surrounding his passing cannot be reversed, his story has brought the desperate plight of his wild counterparts and their habitat in the African north-western Congo Basin into the public eye.

In Kenya, the word “harambee” is “a rallying cry.” In Swahili, “harambee” means “pull together.”

In order to best remember Harambe’s iconic presence, it seems fitting that the rallying cry be sounded on behalf of wild Western lowland gorillas.

Contributions made to The Harambe Fund will be collected by the Gladys Porter Zoo, a 501© 3 non-profit organization, where Harambe was born and raised. They will be transferred to the Mbeli Bai Study, whose programs conserve Western lowland gorillas through research, national capacity building, local community education programs and habitat and wildlife protection. More information can be found athttp://www.mbelibaistudy.org/

To donate via PayPal, use Harambe@gpz.org. Donations can also be mailed to:

Gladys Porter Zoo

Harambe Fund

500 Ringgold Street

Brownsville, Texas 78520

(956) 546-7187

A lot of people feel helpless after the Cincinnati tragedy. The best thing we can do right now is support their conservation – anything donated to this fund goes directly to Mbeli Bai Study, which is the largest extant western lowland gorilla research project. 

“Mbeli Bai is a 13 ha large swampy (natural) forest clearing in the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park with minimum levels of disturbance. Since 1995, researchers of the Wildlife Conservation Society have been continuously monitoring the wildlife visiting Mbeli Bai from an observation platform overlooking the clearing with the goal to ensure the long-term protection of gorillas and other forest mammals via several research and conservation based objectives.

In particular the Mbeli Bai Study (MBS) aims to enhance our knowledge of western gorillas (and other elusive large mammals) and improve their conservation status in the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, the Sangha Tri-National and elsewhere through applied research, capacity building of nationals, local community outreach programs, support of ecotourism activities and international awareness raising. The MBS aims to inform conservation strategies by increasing our understanding of and highlighting the importance of forest clearings (bais) and determining the ecological factors influencing large mammal density around Mbeli Bai.”

Learn more about Mbeli Bai here.