Dian Fossey (1932-1985)

Namesake of: Dian's Tarsier (Tarsius dentatus)

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- Pioneered long-term research on mountain gorillas and became an inter-generational conservation icon

- Was notorious for her vigilante abuse of local people caught hunting illegally in the Virunga protected areas and Rwandan staff

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What I remembered of her controversial methods was her confrontational stance toward poachers and other local people, but one of my students came across a letter that spelled out Fossey’s tactics of torture in horrifying detail. Written in 1976 and addressed to primatologist Dr. Richard Wrangham at Harvard, the letter criticized Wrangham’s own less-controversial conservation efforts and recommended he employ Fossey’s “active” methods.* In chilling detail, Fossey described how she and her associates captured and stripped a poacher, laid him spread-eagle on the ground, and lashed his genitals with nettles. After that she engaged a “black magic routine,” which combined sleeping pills and ether with her knowledge of local cultural beliefs in black magic as a form of psychological torture. She didn’t describe these actions as mistakes driven by anger or revenge. Rather, she encouraged Dr. Wrangham to emulate her methods and promote them in future conservation talks as a successful tactic to deter poaching and encroachment of cattle grazing.