Critically endangered western lowland gorillas at Port Lympne Wild Animal Park near Ashford received a helping hand from pupils recently when two local nursery schools raised money for The Aspinall Foundation.

The pupils from Christchurch nursery school in Folkestone and sister nursery Caspers, in Capel Le Ferne managed to raise a staggering £1000 by carrying out a sponsored walk and selling cakes whilst dressed as gorillas.

The fundraising effort was further boosted with the help of Sheila Martin who is knitting scarves and selling them and Dorothy Harding who is making baby clothes. The Director of Christchurch nursery, Jill Harding also donated a sum of money.

Paul Harding presents a cheque to head keeper, Phil Ridges Photo: ©Dave-Rolfe

Paul Harding, Child Care Manager at Christchurch was the brains behind the initiative and said: ‘I have always had a passion for gorillas, this was educational and fun for the children whilst helping a local charity. I would like to thank all the pupils at the nursery schools, Sheila, Jill and Dorothy for their fantastic efforts.’

Mr Harding visited Port Lympne Wild Animal Park on Saturday to present the cheque to Head Keeper Phil Ridges.

Phil commented: ‘I would like to thank the pupils and Mr Harding for all the hard work and effort they have put in to raise money to support our efforts. Western lowland gorillas are critically endangered in the wild due to hunting for the bushmeat trade and deforestation.’

Port Lympne and Howletts Wild Animal Parks work in conjunction with The Aspinall Foundation and collectively have the largest group of western lowland gorillas in Europe. The charity also manages over 1 million acres in The Congo and Gabon known as The Batéké Plateau. Several gorillas from the parks have been reintroduced to protected areas in this region, 51 orphans from the bushmeat trade have been rescued and rehabilitated and there have been 19 successful births.

Hawkinge Gazette and Channel Coast News 2012©