Town goes ape over gorillas

From a distance, Jane and Steuart Dewar’s log cabin looks like most others in these mountains of northern Georgia. The inside is what’s different.

Brightly colored gorilla portraits hang floor-to-ceiling in the front room. Stuffed toy gorillas, gorilla statues, gorilla magnets and gorilla coffee mugs fill every space. The decor is wall-to-wall gorilla.

Soon the Dewars may have more than just gorilla memorabilia to satisfy their passion for the primates. Outside their front door will be Gorilla Haven, a high-tech sanctuary for gorillas from around the world who no longer fit into zoo settings.

Unless local residents can find a way to stop it.

Bringing gorillas here could become the biggest ape controversy to hit these parts since the Scopes trial took place about 100 miles to the north in 1925. Angry Morganton area residents don’t want their scenic mountains to evolve into “a gorilla dumping ground for zoos all over the world,” said Buddy Folsom, chairman of Concerned Citizens Against Gorillas in Fannin County.

Opponents of Gorilla Haven say they fear the gorillas will spread diseases, contaminate the water supply, drive off native wildlife, lower property values and reduce tourist revenue. Some worry that gorillas will break out of their compound and go on a rampage. Others fear AIDS.

Bill Wilson, a local stonemason who spends his free time hunting deer and wild turkey, calls gorillas “nasty.” He doesn’t understand their appeal to the Dewars. He says he knows how to prepare deer and turkey, but he’s never heard how to prepare gorilla.

Some say the Dewars like gorillas better than people, which revives ancient arguments about the connection between man and ape: “I can look in a mirror and tell exactly where I came from,” Wilson said, “and it wasn’t from no monkey.”

The Dewars have tried to appease residents and educate the community about gorillas. They say all gorillas will be quarantined before entering the compound, and that the most common ailment they will bring is heart disease or arthritis. They explain that gorillas are docile creatures who would not attempt to break out. The high-tech security that will be installed--including electrified fences, infrared motion detectors, video surveillance cameras and a 12-foot concrete wall--will be more to keep intruders out than gorillas in.

Ownership of the gorillas will remain with the participating zoos. The Dewars will fund everything necessary for the animals’ maintenance--including housing, staff, food and love. Jane Dewar, 44, deeply loves gorillas, has all her life. Steuart, 50, sold his successful computer business in Chicago two years ago and joined Jane in a search for property to build their dream-gorilla-house. Once they saw these 275 acres of wooded land in a valley of the Blue Ridge Mountains, they knew they had found the place, so they packed up their Illinois mansion and moved south.

Gorilla Haven was never a secret, the Dewars say. Why should it be? The land they purchased was advertised as “perfect for raising exotic animals.” There were no zoning or animal-control ordinances to block gorillas, although there soon may be. An ordinance to “ban the keeping of wild or exotic animals in the county” has been introduced and tabled until after a March county commission election. “We figured if we have a big enough chunk of land, what we do in the middle of it should be nobody’s business,” Jane Dewar said.

At the Oct. 28 meeting of commissioners of Fannin County, population 17,700, opponents presented a petition with 1,200 signatures. Folsom vows to have at least 2,000 by the Jan. 13 meeting. While opponents intensify their petition drive and hold frequent meetings to plan their strategy and raise funds, the Dewars receive e-mail and letters of support from across the nation.

Eighty-five primatologists from around the world have endorsed Gorilla Haven. They confirm that it will answer a need for housing the excess male gorillas born in zoos since the 1980s. Also, it will offer a comfortable home to aged and infirm gorillas, as well as a place for research of those with personality disorders. A leading international zookeeper has agreed to move to Morganton to manage the facility, which will be closed to the public.

Terry Maple, president of Zoo Atlanta and president-elect of the Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums, favors Gorilla Haven. “I don’t like private parties going out and acquiring a lot of exotic animals,” he said. “But, I have told the [state] Natural Resources Department that I think this is a good project.”

The Dewars say it pains them to see so much anger and hatred directed at them when all they are trying to do is use their money and land to help a few gorillas.

Folsom gets red in the face when he talks about the Dewars. “If they’d have checked, they would have known we wouldn’t be for gorillas,” he said. “They can take them somewhere else.”