Zoo Owner Encourages Human Interaction With Gorillas

C A N T E R B U R Y, England, Nov. 26 -- The cool, rainy English countryside near Canterbury feels about as far away as you can get from the hot jungles of West Africa. But it is here on the grounds of what used to be his father's estate that English entrepreneur and conservationist Damian Aspinall runs the largest captive gorilla preserve in the world.

"What I think is important is that the world understands that these animals are not these ferocious beasts," Aspinall said. "I mean, they're incredibly gentle and incredibly honest and incredibly noble."

Aspinall's father John, a legendary English conservationist and socialite, started Howlett's Zoo as a private reserve in the 1960s. Since then, it's been something of a family tradition that the Aspinalls meet and interact with the gorillas, literally from birth.

Damian did it as a child, events that his father caught on hours of home video. In the early '90s, Aspinall did the same for his first two daughters from his first marriage, Clary and Tansy. Tansy was just 18 months old when she entered the gorillas' cage. With her father close by, the gorillas hugged her and even let her ride on their backs.

"It was wonderful," he said. "They picked her up and they patted her back and they could see that she couldn't support her head, so they supported her head. Incredibly gentle, incredibly gentle."

Now, Aspinall is considering doing the same with his newly born daughter Freya, the daughter of his girlfriend, a TV-host named Donna Air. The news has sparked a storm in the British and American media.

"It's not a big deal for me. That's why the sort of fuss that this has created is slightly bemusing because it's happened here for 40 years," he said. "It's a completely natural organic thing for me to do. I take great joy when one, one of the gorillas here has a baby. They would take great joy I'm sure in seeing that I've had a baby."

At Howlett's, Aspinall breeds gorillas and releases them back into the wild. Aspinall, Air and his two daughters sent seven young gorillas to Gabon, which is located on the edge of the Congo basin, last year.