In recent months, the subreddit r / wallstreetbets has gone viral because it is the king of the financial sector of hedge funds that tried to sell Gamestop shares. Now the community is giving back by donating to a gorilla conservation fund.
Gorillas are the central focus of the movement, with the front page of r / wallstreet bets full of topics related to their adoption.
A topic, entitled ‘This MFer is probably richer than me now’ links to an adoption certificate made for ‘Tears of Jim Cramer’. Another is “Fuck Melvin Capital” – a dig in the hedge fund that was at the center of Gamestop’s short selling disaster.
The vast majority of donations appear to be directed to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. The organization is the oldest and largest group in the world that focuses specifically on gorilla protection, habitat conservation and scientific research.
“This helps our team and the park administration to develop the most effective conservation strategies as we learn about life, ecology, health, gorilla genetics and more,” says the website.
“The most effective conservation strategy is the direct and sustained protection of wildlife populations. This is the basis of our work. “
The fund emphasizes that adoptions are symbolic, with the “product of support for adoptions[ing] our daily gorilla protection efforts in Rwanda and the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. “
Over the weekend, the director of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund released a video thanking air / wallstreetbets for the amount of gorilla adoptions that were being made on behalf of the group.
At the moment, it is not clear how much money the adoptions have raised, but we know that $ US77,000 (about $ 99,000) was raised in just one day. The contributions were so significant that the fund’s president and CEO, Dr. TaraStoinski, released a video thanking Wallstreetbets.
“I just heard that you are adopting gorillas through our website. I just wanted to say thank you very much for that incredible support, ”said Stoinski in the video.
A message to the WSB from Fund Director Dian Fossey Gorilla! from wallstreetbets
The fund also posted Wallstreetbets on Twitter.
“Wow! We are impressed with the support we are receiving from @Official_WSB and people from all over the world! We have raised $ 77k today! Thanks everyone,” said the fund over the weekend.
I adopted this guy! ???????? pic.twitter.com/BOuSjrT4f8
– Jordan Rantucci (@JordanRantucci) March 14, 2021
In January, r / wallstreetbets gained prominence after causing an exponential tightening in Gamestop’s shares. This resulted in huge profit losses for at least one hedge fund, Melvin Capital, as well as a class action lawsuit against Robinhood.
The brokerage app limited the number of ‘meme stock’ shares that could be purchased on the platform, resulting in outrage from users and questions from regulators, as well as politicians on both sides of the aisle in the U.S.
Although Gamestop’s shares later plummeted, they have rebounded in recent weeks. At the time this article is being written, it is at $ 264.50 per share.
If you want to donate to the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund you can do this here. You can also configure monthly contributions here.