Celebrated television host, Ellen DeGeneres’ long-awaited dream has become a reality following the public opening of her centre to protect endangered mountain gorillas in Rwanda. The American Comedian officially confirmed the news yesterday during her talk show, The Ellen Show. She said that the now complete facility began four years ago, when her partner, Portia de Rossi, gifted the celebrated actor with a gorilla conservation centre to celebrate her 60th birthday. DeGeneres also said that it was named the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund to among others recognize the legacy of the late Dian Fossey in service of mountain gorillas. “Growing up, my hero was Dian Fossey because of what she did to bring awareness to the mountain gorillas,” DeGeneres said during her talk show. Dian Fossey was an American primatologist and conservationist known for undertaking an extensive study of mountain gorilla groups in Rwanda from 1966 until she was murdered in 1985. Thus, “Portia, for my birthday wanted to build a campus in Rwanda that would help continue Dian’s work. And today…I am happy to announce the official opening of the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.” The campus according to DeGeneres is ‘amazing’ with facilities including Sandy and Harold Price Research Center, Cindy Broder Conservation Gallery and Rob and Melani Walton Education Center — plus housing for visiting students and researchers. Visitors are also expected to see exclusive artifacts from Fossey’s 18 years of living with gorillas as well as augmented and virtual reality experiences. “It is for everyone to visit…it’s just so much going on. And I hope that you get a chance to go to Rwanda and go see that and see the gorillas because it’s a life changing experience.” DeGeneres said she was committed to support Fossey’s legacy to protect gorillas in the country of Rwanda. Initially founded by Fossey, the Dian Fossey Gorilla Conservation Fund is considered the world’s largest and longest-running organisation dedicated entirely to gorilla conservation. “The Ellen Campus represents a huge expansion of our teaching and laboratory spaces, enabling us to not just increase but transform our programs to study gorillas and their critical forest habitat and bring educational opportunities to early career African scientists and members of the local community,” noted Felix Ndagijimana, the Fossey Fund’s director of Rwanda programs.
