Game Stop

Something is stirring in the  Jungle of Capitalism.

But first, a shout out for the work of the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust and their pioneering elephant orphanage in Kenya , www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org.

Daphne Sheldrick established the Trust , after the early death of her Husband and after Daphne’s death in 2018, her daughter Angela continued the good work.

Suddenly, in the middle of March this year , there were a significant number of extra donations to the Trust , in fact more than 8000€ worth more than usual….around the same time, several other wildlife charities reported the same thing : suddenly Sea Turtles and Pangolins were doing well with extra donations and adoptions.

And the reason?   Well, the US stock market.

Game Stop , the enormous US retailer, is in trouble , as download speeds increase and one doesn’t have to buy discs etc to play those enthralling games…..and with 5000 stores , that’s a lot of trouble. The vultures ( hedge funds et al ) were gathering.

But a large group of small investors bought stock in Game Stop en masse , saving the retailer, refinancing it  , giving it time to reorganise and raising the share value , thereby making a handsome profit for themselves…..

Some of these white knights chose to give their profits to Animal Charities……..the largest beneficiary appears to have been the equally impressive Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund , who received a staggering extra 3500 adoptions in one week, totalling more than 300,000€

If you adopt a young Gorilla , sometimes you can give it a name…..So, if you are ever somewhere in a Ugandan forest and someone comes towards you shouting ‘ Go To Hell Wall Street’ —  don’t worry , you haven’t stumbled on the Lords Revolutionary Army , but probably someone looking for a Gorilla….

The US economy? It’s a mad;mad; mad world , but it’s nice to know there are some sane people in it, doing the right thing….