Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Gorilla encounter shared by zoo boss
An animal conservationist who owns two reserves in Kent has shared a video of an adorable moment he enjoyed with a gorilla.
Damian Aspinall, who runs Howletts Wild Animal Park near Canterbury and Port Lympne Hotel and Reserve near Hythe, posted a clip on Instagram of him with one of the animals.
In the video, he is crouching in front of the primate inside her enclosure at Howletts, strokes her and appears to be speaking to her.
The animal reserve boss is wearing a hat the animal quickly spots and moves her hand towards.
It is then not long before she takes the cap off Damian’s head and puts it on her own – facing backwards.
After putting it on, she pulls Damian closer to her and the pair hug.
Captions in the video say: “She sees me wearing my hat…
“Then… She puts on my hat!!
“And she looks better than me.”
Damian’s daughter, Freya, was also with him at the reserve last Wednesday, and in another video she is seen sitting with a gorilla who is having a snack.
He captions the post: “Me and my daughter Freya visiting our extended family at Howletts.
“There’s no training involved in these interactions, just complete trust between humans
and gorillas.
“It’s too late to rewind, but together we can rewild.”
In an interview with the Gazette last year, Mr Aspinall told how he would happily see Howletts and Port Lympne shut, or turned into rescue centres if it meant their animals living wild.
He established Howletts as a private animal park in 1957 before opening it to the public in 1975.
The following year Port Lympne welcomed its first visitors.