Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Disney Honors Gino on World Gorilla Day With $500,000 Conservation Pledge

The tribute directs support to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund with GRACE for forest corridor protection in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Overview

  • Disney marked World Gorilla Day by commemorating Gino, the 44-year-old western lowland gorilla, at Animal Kingdom.
  • The Disney Conservation Fund pledged $500,000 to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and GRACE to help safeguard a 3,500-square-kilometer forest corridor in the DRC.
  • Born in 1980 in Rotterdam and relocated to Animal Kingdom in 1997, Gino served as a public ambassador at the park for nearly three decades.
  • He pioneered awake cardiac ultrasound training for gorillas, a practice now used by dozens of accredited zoos to improve care.
  • A key contributor to the AZA Gorilla Species Survival Plan, he sired 14 offspring across seven states and even inspired the program’s logo.