A VALE councillor is urging Barry residents to help him raise £400 for the last remaining Mountain Gorillas of the Virunga mountains in Africa.

Vale Council biodiversity champion, cabinet member and Gibbonsdown councillor, Rob Curtis, has just completed his second London Great Gorilla Run to raise much needed funds.

Hundreds of people dressed as gorillas ran, jogged or walked the 8km though the City of London in the 11th annual Great Gorilla Run to help save the endangered species.

The event, in its 11th year, has raised more than £2 million for biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction projects in central Africa.

Cllr Rob Curtis said: “This annual fundraising run to save one of the world’s most iconic species has gone from strength to strength because of wonderful public support.

“When I was a young 26 year old, I was lucky to be part of a trans-African overland expedition which gave me the opportunity to visit the Mountain Gorillas in the wild. It was an experience which I will treasure for the rest of my life. That is why I urgently need people to sponsor me to reach my target of £400.

“The Gorilla Organization relies on the sponsorship and support of people like you. So be one of the extraordinary people that helps us save an incredible species in amazing ways all around the world, so that the world will always have great gorillas.”

Cheques, payable to ‘The Gorilla Organisation’, can be sent to Councillor Curtis’s home address at 118 Merthyr Dyfan Road, Barry, CF62 9TJ.

Or donate at www.gorillas.org