Zoo Keeper Introduces His Wife to Orphaned Gorillas and Things Take a Surprising Turn

Damian Aspinall

As soon as Damian Aspinall met Victoria, he instantly knew that she was the one. She was an animal lover just like himself. As the proud owner of two zoos, both filled with dangerous animals, Victoria hopefully knew exactly what she was getting into when she began her relationship with Damian. Then they embarked on the dangerous and beautiful thing called marriage.

Gabon

After the pair had been happily married for a bit of time, Damian figured it was time to introduce his new wife to a few of the gorillas that he had raised when he was young, nearly a decade earlier. The two set their sights on visiting Gabon, a small country in central Africa. Victoria couldn’t wait to meet them.

Howletts Wild Animal Park

But to tell the full story we have to rewind a bit. In 1957, Howletts Wild Animal Park in Littlebourne, England, was founded by John Aspinall, Damian’s father. Over 700 acres contained beasts of all sorts and sizes. Some strong and humble and some a bit smaller and aggressive. It was here that Damian learned to connect with the natural world.

Saving Damian’s Hide

As crazy as it may be to believe, Damian had a particularly confounding experience with a surrogate gorilla mother at his father’s zoo as a child. After he climbed up a tree, he was unable to get down, and was eventually rescued by the gorilla mother as she brought him back down on her back. It was an incredible experience that stayed with Damian into adulthood.

This gorilla, who clearly understood the high-strung emotions that Damian displayed, brought out the amazingly empathetic mother figure inside her. When tears appeared in his eyes, this motherly gorilla wiped them away from his face. He was blown away by this amazing display of compassion.

In fact, Damian had mentioned that the dangerous animals at the zoo felt closer to him than to young children his own age. Close friends would rarely come over as Damian’s home at the zoo was too dangerous for visitors, home to lions, tigers, and bison.

In order to keep the Howletts Wild Animal Park and the Port Lympne Wild Animal Park active, Damian’s father had established a charity fund in order to maintain their zoo’s incredible work with wildlife conservation.

Orphaned Gorillas

See, both the Howlett and the Port Lympne Wild Animal Park zoos bred endangered animal species. They even managed to learn how to care and raise orphaned gorillas before releasing them back into the wild.

Passing Hands

Although Damian may be well off now, his father instilled an ethic of hard work and investment as a way to support himself financially. These lessons came to assist Damian, the only member of the family to continue caring for these animals after his father passed away. His father’s zoos and funds were therefore in his hands.

Djalta and Ima

Even as a child, Damian helped raise the orphaned baby gorillas that were brought into his father’s zoos. Young Damian and the baby gorillas nearly became playmates. Two of these very special gorillas were named Djalta and Ima.

When the time came for the married couple to take their trip to Gabon, Damian was very excited yet still very cautious about getting his hopes up to find his friends, Djalta and Ima. Damian had attempted this trip years prior with no success. No one knew if he was going to find his old friends, especially if his wife was now tagging along.

After traveling through forests of thick brush and overgrowth, the GPS of his gorillas still only provided a general location of their home. Clearly, the group’s expedition was tougher than expected.

A Bird’s-Eye View

To make the most of this almost nefarious search, a member of Damian’s expedition had a drone to help scout the area. Rather than waste time, resources, and stress to find these shy gorillas, a “birds-eye” approach was used. The operation turned out to be a success!

Zoo Keeper Introduces His Wife to Orphaned Gorillas and Things Take a Surprising Turn

Damian Aspinall

Gabon

Saving Damian’s Hide

Cautiously Optimistic

They Could Be Anywhere…

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