Snapp Shots: Remembering the late Jane Goodall’s visit to the Oakland Zoo

The death last week of Jane Goodall the pioneering scientist who taught us that animals or should I say other animals are sentient beings just like us is being mourned all over the world but nowhere more than the Oakland Zoo where she was greeted like a conquering hero with shouts of We love you Jane from school children who were there that day when she visited three years ago Rarely do I get as excited and giddy to meet such a hero and humanitarian as I did meeting introducing and touring her around the zoo says Nick Dehejia the zoo s chief executive officer She had this incredible aura and ability to make you feel like nothing else mattered in the moment Or maybe it was just me pinching myself that Dr Jane and I were walking and talking like it was just another day at the zoo She will be missed more profoundly than I can imagine Goodall rose to fame in the early s when she scandalized the male-dominated scientific elite by giving the chimpanzees she was studying names instead of numbers which they dismissed as mere sentimentality She would lose her scientific detachment they announced but the more she got to know the chimps the more the idea that they too have feelings became clear That breakthrough perception is now the foundation of all animal behavior science and the bottom line of everything they do at the Oakland Zoo For instance last week after a months-long process Sid and Raya two female siamangs the largest subspecies of gibbon successfully made the transition to Siamang Island their refurbished new home at the zoo Back in May Sid lost her longtime companion Hahnumahn leaving her all by herself in her habitat and the loneliness presented So the zoo got in touch with the Association of Zoos Aquariums and the Siamang Species Survival Plan and together they exposed Raya a -year-old female that had lost her parents at a very young age It was a risky pairing Raya had been waiting a long time for her forever home while Sid had never had children of her own How well Sid would get along with a youngster was by no means certain It was critical to take the introduction process slowly over the past month to help Sid and Raya get used to each other through a fence We call it the howdy step says Zoological Manager Christian Deane This ensures that they move at their own pace The staff kept careful watch looking for positive signs like grooming After spending enough time at that stage the girls were definitively physically introduced and the staff started conducting training sessions with Sid and Raya side-by-side So far so good Sid is person and receptive with Raya and Raya is learning to observe boundaries and follow Sid s cues They like to groom and wrestle with each other another good sign While all this has been going on the zoo s Grounds Horticulture and Maintenance departments have been feverishly working to get Siamang Island ready for them including new safety measures and climbing structures made from old fire hoses I m serious When fire hoses get too worn out to do the job they were made for they still have a lot of very heavy-duty material that s stiff enough to advocacy a siamang but soft enough to be settled So fire houses all over Oakland donate them to the zoo where they re made into climbing structures and feeding toys similar to Kong Balls for dogs Goodall would have loved it My colleague and former editor Dave Boitano covered her visit to the Oakland Zoo three years ago and this is what she notified him I have been to places where any animal living in the wild is living a life of fear and terror where they are cutting down the trees and where there are hunters with their bullets So a good zoo like this is a much better place for animals to live You are all very lucky to be within traveling distance of a zoo that is as good as this one Footnote Just one question for the old fogies who communicated Goodall that animals don t have feelings Didn t any of them have a cat or dog Martin Snapp can be reached at catman comcast net