The gorillas are coming back out to play next month and, as usual, they’re going to have a little runaround.
No, seriously.
The seventh annual Edmonton Gorilla Run is exactly one month away from taking over the University of Alberta’s Corbett Field. St. Albert’s Raemonde Bezenar clarified that the event is populated only by people of all ages dressed up as the hairy animals, but it’s all in support of the real creatures.
“It’s a great family event,” she said. “We’ve even got gorilla suits for the little ones. They’re absolutely adorable. When the kids wear them, they’re absolutely priceless. It’s a lot of fun, people dress up and it’s definitely a unique fundraising event.”
Indeed, the fun run sees a multitude of gorilla runners grunting through a 5-km course and it’s not just because it seems like a good idea at the time. It has a very benevolent purpose as fundraising from participants’ pledges goes to supporting a student to get through university training to help the mountain gorillas, an endangered species, in Africa.
Bezenar is the founder and executive director of Canadian Friends of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, the support organization to the project that was founded by the late Dr. Dian Fossey.
Bezenar also helped to build a sanctuary for orphaned mountain gorilla babies in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
She said that there are only 880 confirmed mountain gorillas in the world and, while their numbers are growing, every day is a fight for survival.
“In some countries, there still are gorillas getting eaten for bush meat. There’s always deforestation and things going against them. It’s a real battle.”
When she’s not preparing for the Gorilla Run, Bezenar is planning to make a return trip to the Congo. Her next visit will see her working on a project where solar powered listening devices will be installed. These devices are programmed to detect noises that indicate gorilla distress or threats to the gorillas’ habitat such as chainsaws, so that agencies that she supports can respond immediately and hopefully save gorilla lives.
Mostly, however, she hopes to support students who do so much of the frontline work to make sure that gorillas thrive and survive.
“We are mandated to provide the very best in health care for gorillas. We provide African students scholarships in veterinary medicine so that they can help keep the species from extinction. It’s like having a gorilla doctor on hand so that they can monitor the gorillas in the wild in Uganda, Rwanda and the Congo.”
“That’s the only reason why we exist. To be able to put students through school and have them become future gorilla doctors and monitoring the gorillas in the wild would be something like a call from Dr. Dian Fossey. We’re answering the call.”
The Edmonton Gorilla Run is Saturday, Sept. 10 at Corbett Field, 82 Avenue and 114 Street. The Little Gorilla 1K starts at 9:30 a.m. while the 5K Gorilla Run kicks off at 10 a.m., right after the costume contest wraps up.
For more information, visit www.edmontongorillarun.ca.
