Dian Fossey created the original Digit Fund in 1978, following the brutal killing of her beloved gorilla Digit by poachers. The fund was established to finance anti-poaching patrols and protect the mountain gorillas she had dedicated her life to studying. Wikipedia After Fossey was murdered in 1985, the Digit Fund was renamed the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International.
Dian Fossey (January 16, 1932 – December 26, 1985) was an American primatologist and conservationist who spent 20 years in Rwanda studying mountain gorillas daily in the mountain forests.