This Woman Grew up Raising Gorillas. Their Reunion 12 Years Later Will Touch Your Heart

Feb 29, 2016

Most of you are probably familiar with the warm feeling of reuniting with family members or old friends you haven’t seen for a while. But what happens when you see an animal that was your childhood companion a dozen of years ago? Most likely, a cat or a dog wouldn’t recognize you after so many years. However, it seems that apes are more similar to humans in this matter. To see for yourself, read how a woman reunited with gorillas she knew as a child.
Tansy Aspinall grew up helping with activities of her family’s charity, The Aspinall Foundation, a nonprofit organization which aims to rehabilitate gorillas that had been in captivity at Howletts Wild Animal Park in southern England. The main goal of the UK-based nonprofit is to release the gorillas into their natural environment in West Africa.
In her interview with Evening Standard, Tansy said that during her childhood years, she had a very personal relationship with the gorillas who were in captivity – they used to play and have fun together. “The gorillas would come up and hug you, and we’d run and roll around and chase them. So fun.”

When Tansy was 11 years old, two gorillas, Bimms and Djalta, she had a special bond with were released back to their native habitat in Gabon.
“My sister Clary and I often played with Djalta and Bims on the lawn and sometimes we went into the cages with other gorillas. I loved being around them all, but those two guys were really very special to us, like our relatives,” she told Daily Mail.