Boulder man works to save mountain gorillas

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Boulder man works to save mountain gorillas[Please note these articles below are for your information but are not necessarily written by ourselves.]

Robert Williams was stunned and close to tears. He paced his Boulder living room, shaking his head in horror at the news article he had just read.Then he began to act.He e-mailed a wildlife nonprofit in Kenya. Williams, a local home builder, didn’t know how, but he wanted to help save the last of the world’s mountain gorillas.Fewer than 70 mountain gorillas are left in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Only 700 worldwide.“This is it,” Williams said. “There is no margin for error. They are hanging by a thread.”Today, about seven months later, Williams has a plan. And the next step is to rally support by informing the community at a fundraiser presentation Wednesday at the Boulder Public Library. He hopes the facts alone underscore the urgency.And the hope.Williams is taking time off from work, living off a home-equity line, to focus on the project full time. During his research, he says he learned about the illegal harvest of trees in the Congo’s Virunga National Park, i.e. gorilla habitat. Residents hack trees for charcoal production, their main source for fueling stoves.Conservation experts also think that might be the No. 1 threat to the survival of the gorillas, even above high-profile stories about poaching and exotic animal trade. The so-called "charcoal mafia" slaughtered an entire family of gorillas execution-style last year to send a message to conservationists to back off. The death of 10 gorillas in this one incident wiped out more than 1 percent of the world population."It resonated so strongly with me: these gentle, innocent creatures, caught in the middle of a conflict, who share 98 percent of our DNA," Williams said. "It strikes me as such a metaphor of what humans are doing to the planet. First you kill your closest relative, and what's next?"Williams thinks part of the solution might be giving the Congolese residents another cooking option so they don't need charcoal stoves. He says he convinced Germany's Bosch and Siemens to donate 150 plant-oil stoves, for starters.Williams' passion drew together a small group of other Boulderites, including Boulder's Highland City Club, multimedia producer Jonathon Turkle and Boulder artist Mike Brouse. Brouse painted a picture of a gorilla he hopes to auction for the cause."I think he has a chance of making an impact," Brouse said of Williams. "He's pushing the movement for sure."Working alongside Wildlife Direct, the volunteers need to raise $30,000, to pay for oils, shipping costs from China and other related expenses.Virginia Echavarria, a consultant with Wildlife Direct, is working with the local movement from the Congo. She said Williams is proof that one person can make a difference."If I just think of all of the positive things we have achieved thanks to Robert, one individual from Boulder, I cannot imagine what could happen if all (of) Boulder reacts the same way. It would be a solved problem."She said Williams will soon write a blog for Wildlife Direct's Web site.In addition to Wednesday's fundraiser at the Boulder library, a Thursday event will feature Emmanuel de Merode, the chief executive of Wildlife Direct, who is widely seen as a leader in the fight to save mountain gorillas. Starting at 7 p.m., he will speak at the Colorado History Museum, 1300 Broadway, Denver. Tickets to this fundraiser cost $25.