Aspinall Foundation to Release Gorilla Family Into the Wild

An entire family of gorillas will be released back into the wild of Africa next year by the Aspinall Foundation. The family of eleven gorillas will be the first captive group to be released back into their natural habitat, along with a selection of Gibbons, Javan langurs and two elephants.

The gorilla family currently call the Aspinall Foundation’s Port Lympne and Howletts Wildlife Park in Kent home, but in 2013 will be released into areas of the African jungle where their number have since disappeared. This will be the animal charities most ambitious project to date, and will hopefully see gorilla numbers increase in this area where the species was hunted to extinction.

Damian Aspinall said –

The Aspinall Foundation’s Back to the Wild initiative is unique and comprises of easily the most ambitious and wide-ranging reintroductions of endangered species into the wild ever undertaken in the world. Equally important, it marks the foundation’s absolute commitment to intensify the global debate around the role of wildlife parks and zoos. We passionately believe that the days are long gone when it could be seen as justifiable to keep animals in captivity simply for the purposes of display or education.

The family leader is a 30 year old male called Djala. He was rescued way back in the nineties from poachers in Africa, and has been at the Port Lympne Park ever since. The greedy monkey will also be taking his FIVE wifes with him, and also his six children who range from 8 months to 6 years old.  Since 1996, the Aspinall Foundation has successfully reintroduced more than 50 gorillas back into the wild through their rescue and rehabilitation centres in Gabon and Congo. Here’s hoping the Djala and his family can help to kickstart a new gorilla colony in their area of Africa in 2013.