May 19th, 2010 - The World of the Gorillas

So last night while working on the Wild Horses design (a temporary name - not the official title) I popped in a youtube video. Typically I like to put movies, music or a professor's lecture (thanks Dr. B) as background noise to keep me at ease - working in complete silence kills me!

Yet, the video I put in happened to be about the world of the Gorillas in the Congo. In particularly it was about the silver back gorillas that were massacred a couple of years ago - http://mountaingorillas.gorillacd.org/ - and I never really knew much about what had happened or what was going on now.

So this morning I started a drawing from a picture I had taken at the Asheboro Zoo in NC of a Silverback Gorilla in their Forest Glade Exhibit.


The Gorilla is a beautiful animal and it actually made me nervous walking up to the exhibit as it was lying right next to the glass when I noticed it. It got up and stared right at me and moved on. These animals are so breathtaking - they're not swans but they are wonderful creatures.

Well apparently they are not as wonderful to the charcoal traders in the Virunga National Forest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While watching the video it is sad to see that the one group - whose mission is to protect them - is under attack as well. The Director of the National Park seems corrupt and the Rebel Leader who has limited access to the Gorillas is ....well he's a rebel leader. Go check out the video here:



So now that we've seen the video and we've heard their story....what do we do? Where do we go from here? What can we do to help?

I feel a new inspiration for a painting....

visit: mountaingorillas.gorillacd.org for more information.