22 years ago, Damian Aspinall did what many parents would consider to be reckless and irresponsible – he introduced his 18-month-old daughter, Tansy, to a group of gorillas at Howletts Wild Animal Park in Kent. He filmed the encounter but kept the footage private, until now.

Damian, 52, decided to release the footage to raise awareness for the endangered great apes and is prepared to take any criticism he may face for his controversial actions over two decades ago.

I don’t care if I get a bit of stick because I think the gorillas get a good deal out of it. There’s an upside for them that there wasn’t before. If we can show millions of people how gentle and noble and wonderful these animals are, then I think we’re doing the gorillas a service. I’m happy to take the stick for that.

Although she doesn’t remember the exact encounter, his daughter Tansy, now 23, agrees and stands by her father’s decisions.

I obviously understand that people might find it quite shocking seeing a baby going in with the gorillas because that’s how they have been brought up – to see gorillas in that King Kong kind of way. But really gorillas are such wonderful, gentle animals and they’re so human-like. So I hope it’s a way of people understanding how gentle and kind gorillas really are.

Damian set up the Aspinall Foundation in 2000 after his father’s death, “a conservation initiative to return captive-bred animals to the wild”. Since its inception, the foundation has bred, and reintroduced into the wild, more captive animals than any other organisation in Europe.

Despite his foundation’s beliefs and good intentions, and those of countless others, every year there are still cases of captive animals lashing out against people and the newly released footage has already raked in a fair amount of abuse online.

What do you think, was he right to trust the great apes with his tiny daughter?

[Source: Daily Mail, ABC News]