Christine A. Elmore
Jane Goodall has made it her life's work to study chimps and to speak out on their behalf. Tragically, they have become an endangered species. She writes in
The Chimpanzees I Love
: "One hundred years ago we think there were about two million chimpanzees in Africa; now there may be no more than 150,000. They are already extinct in four of the twenty-five countries where they once lived. There are more chimpanzees in the great Congo basin than anywhere elsebut that is where they are disappearing the fastest" (Goodall 2001, p. 66).
What are the causes of this huge decrease in the chimpanzee population? Jane addresses all four of these causes in her aforementioned book:
1) Deforestation
2) Wire cable snares
3) Smuggling efforts for the live animal trade
4) The bush meat trade
Let's take a closer look at each of these causes.
Deforestation
More and more trees in Africa are being felled to provide land for growing populations of people to grow their crops on and to build their homes on. Wood is also being used to make charcoal and firewood. Chimpanzees are thus losing their habitat and have to find other places to live. But where do they go? Jennifer Lindsey in her book
The Great Apes
warns that extinction of a species is not simply "an animal suddenly blipping out of existence…When a species loses its territory, food sources, and protection from new and mounting dangersincluding humansit dies off slowly and painfully, each generation becoming weaker and more vulnerable, until the last animal of its kind breathes its final breath" (Lindsey 2001, p. 121). On a larger scale, many animals, not just chimps, are losing their homes because of man. Robert M. McClung writes in his previously mentioned book, "As the number of people in the world increases, the results become even more marked. All over the world tropical rain forests fall under the ax and bulldozer. Mountain slopes are cleared for more croplands. Vital wildlife habitats everywhere, whole ecosystems and natural areas, are disappearing under the onslaught" (McClung 1997, p. 262).
Wire Cable Snares
Chimpanzees are often caught in the wire cable snares set by hunters for bushpigs and antelopes. They may be strong enough to break the wire but cannot get the noose off. As a result, some chimps die while others lose a hand or foot after much suffering.
The Live Animal Trade
To this day there still exist dealers who try to smuggle chimps out of Africa for the live animal trade. Preferring baby chimps that are easier to handle and 'cuter', the dealers will often shoot the mother and steal her babies which are sold to zoos, circuses or to individuals who keep them as pets. Not only are chimps sold for entertainment purposes, they are also sold to laboratories for medical research, where they often languish in insufferable conditions.
The Bush Meat Trade
In the great Congo basin chimps face the greatest threat from poachers who hunt them for food. What has expedited this threat are the roads made by logging companies that delve deep into the forests, making it exceedingly easy for hunters to access and shoot chimps and other animals like gorillas, bonobos, elephants and antelopes. The hunters take the meat and smoke it or load the fresh meat into trucks which they drive back to the towns to sell. Lindsey recounts in her book that "primatologists studying the effects of the bushmeat trade estimate that in one year hunters illegally kill and butcher more than two thousand gorillas and four thousand chimpanzeesten times the number of chimpanzees who live in Goodall's research area of Gombe Stream" (Lindsey 2001, p.127). Jane Goodall warns, "The trouble is that so many people living there prefer the taste of meat from the wild animals, and they will pay more for it than for that from domestic animals. If this trade (known as the 'bushmeat trade) cannot be stopped, there will soon be no animals left" (Goodall 2001, p. 66).
Jane Goodall has been tireless in her efforts to save the chimpanzees. To this day she is regularly on the road giving lectures about the chimpanzees and other animals. She raises money so that the work in Gombe can continue. Students and journalists from all over the world come to spend time there and to learn about the chimps. In 1977, Jane established the Jane Goodall Institute for Wildlife Research which is based in the U.S. and raises money to help rescue and relocate chimps in Africa. She is also an advocate for chimpanzee rights in zoos and in laboratory testing and, as a result, the lives of chimps in both Europe and the U.S. have improved. Jane started ChimpanZoo which is a group of students, zoo keepers and volunteers who study chimp behavior in zoos. In addition to all of this, Goodall started a program for children called Roots & Shoots which helps them learn more about the natural world.
Jane Goodall firmly believes that each person matters and that each individual can make a difference in helping to 'save the earth'. It all starts with one's attitude toward nature. Do we view nature as simply something to exploit for our purposes or do we see the need to change our ways and share the earth with all living things? It is essential that we as teachers help our students to develop an ecological conscience in which we can see the interconnectedness we have with other living thingsplants as well as animals on this earth. It is up to us to ensure that chimpanzees (as well as all other endangered animals) do not become extinct. In her book,
Chimpanzees
Rebecca Stefoff, quotes Jane Goodall who said, "Chimpanzees at least some chimpanzeeswill survive if humans choose that they do so." The author continues, "If chimpanzees do not survive, human beings will be alone in a new way, having lost the closest link to their origins in the natural world" (Stefoff 2004, p. 104).
