Talk:Dian Fossey

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Dian Fossey was potrayed by her scientific colleagues, who envied her for her achievements and her research station, as eccentric and obsessed, and all kinds of stories were circulated about her.

The bolded portion seems to be, without citation, Non-NPOV. It has been removed.

Hey, what was Dian fossey's weakness that she had

In what manner was Fossey murdered? Someone told me she was decapitated, but I haven't heard any other evidence to indicate this.

I don't know if these two comments are by the same person but I will try to answer them both. As far as the weakness, I hear from someone who once knew her (an anthropology professer) that she was not a nice person and had bad people skills. Supposedly she began kidnapping the children of poachers who kidnapped gorilla babies and held them ransom until the poachers returned the gorillas. However this has never been verified and considering her early work as a child therapist ( not to mention her love of children) this is highly unlikely. Although my teacher didn't like her too much, I think she sounds kinda inspirational, though perhaps a little misguided tactically. As to the decapitation, I think you are right, but I am not sure. I know that a lot of the gorillas she studied were decapitated, and I think she was too. She was not decapitated per say; her skull had been split diagonally from forehead to mouth and received several additional blows to the top and back of her head.

It is said by some that she arranged her own murder, as a way of stopping the poachers. Poaching went down in the area for a while, until someone was finally convicted - but they say he was wrongly convicted with contrived evidencce.

[edit] Expansion

It s the greed for money that killed Dian. I think it is really disgusting how ORTPN, its director Laurent Habirameye, Protais Zigiranyirazo (the préfet and animal trader of Ruehengeri) and some of Dians fromer students let her former tracker Rwelekana kill her; just to exploit the gorillas for tourism.

Would a poacher brake unarmed into her cabin when everybody knew that Fossey made no calms about using her guns?

Before her death Dr David Watts lobbied hard to formulate means to take Karisoke away from Dian. ORTPN said if they wanted Dian to leave they would have simply asked her to do so. That 's a joke. ORTPN asked her to leave and Dian who was the founder and through her background as occupational therapist made close research of habituated groups possible threatened to burn down Karisoke if she 'd had to go. As Dian wrote it was a threat and "the only way to save a lifetime of work".

I also think it is disgusting how David Watts then could take over as Karisoke director after Dians death. Some researchers are really losing their minds due to their ambitions.

10000 tourist visiting the gorillas that s way too much. In Mowat s book it is discribed how Dr Amy Vedder defecated among the gorillas and let them eat her feces and how Dian was horrified when she found that out. Afterwards gorillas like Nunkie died of human intestinal parasites. And imagine 10000 people defecating in the park....When I was there there was litter and garbage all over the place- even tampons.

This article could benefit from some mention of her scientific contributions, namely her work regarding the gorillas. There should likely be a whole section on it. It's kind of sketchy now. I'll put it on my list (and cross my fingers) but I invite anyone who has additional information handy/current to expand and embellish.

Also, the accusation regarding her murder should be cited, and I believe there are several theories regarding her death. These would be good to mention. --DanielCD 14:24, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

As a child, Diane Fossey suffered from scute asthma and had lots of breathing and lung problems througought her life. She also suffered from multiple injuries that limited her physically. Because she would not allow time for her wounds to recuperate she was constantly in pain and never fully healed.

Dian Fossey was very unlikely killed by poachers who would' ve killed her in the forrest with little risk to themselves. According to Farley Mowats book she was very likely killed by those who viewed her as an impediment to the financial exploitation of the gorillas through tourism.

According to the Mowat biography of Dian including many of her personal letters the Rwandan tourism office ORTPN, WWF, AWF, FPS and some of her former research students all wanted to oust Dian from the camp she created. Why should a poacher wait 18 years and then decide to kill Dian by braking into her cabin? This is very unrealistic. If Dian had been killed by poachers in the forrest tourists would be reluctant to come. So the scenario of a poacher killing Dian was constructed inside her cabin.

According to the Mowat biography the killer must have been someone familiar with Dians cabin who knew the outlay of her home. There wasn' t any blood on the walls just around her body which argues that most of the whacks to her head could have also been produced after her death or after she lost consciousness.