Pioneering Women Who Protect Wildlife

If having a soul means being able

to feel love and loyalty and gratitude,

then animals are better off than a lot of humans.

(James Herriot)

Zoologist, Author to Attend Hamilton Film Screenings

Published recently in The Hamilton Spectator

is pioneering zoologist and author

Anne Innis Dagg, a Waterloo resident and subject of the acclaimed documentary,

The Woman Who Loves Giraffes

will attend screenings of the film at the Playhouse Cinema on April 5, 7 and 8.

She will join the movie's producer Paul Zimic on all 3 nights for question and answer sessions following the film's 7 pm screenings at the newly renovated Playhouse, 177 Sherman Avenue North.

The movie chronicles the life of Dagg, who at the age of 23,

travelled to Africa in 1956 to study giraffes in the wild.

The film also focuses on the numerous barriers Dagg faced as a female scientist and academic.

(The colour photo of smiling Dagg permitting a giraffe to eat from her hand

captured my attention.)

Diane Fossey's Gorillas

She told the world how mountain gorillas live~ and fought tooth and nail

to save them. Her obsession may have led to her mysterious death.

On December 26, 2015, Melissa Hogenborn wrote:

“It is now 30 years to the day since the mysterious death of Diane Fossey ~ the primatolagist who transferred the way to see gorillas. Before Fossey's work, gorillas had an appalling reputation as violent brutes that would kill a human on sight. Fossey diminished this myth. Living alongside a group of mountain gorillas of Rwanda, she showed that these huge apes are actually 'gentle giants' with individual personalities and rich social lives. In many ways, they are like us.

The 1988 film, Gorillas in the Mist presented a fictionalized version of Fossey's story.

Fossey did not set out to become a primatolagist ~ she simply loved African nature and was inspired to travel there in 1963. In September, 1967 Fossey set up a small research outpost in Rwanda:

Karisoke Research Center.

This consisted of a few cabins high in the volcanic Virunga.

The area was and is home to the Virunga group of mountain gorillas.

This is one of only two populations in the world ~

the other being in Uganda.

Jane Goodall Heads Into the Wild in the Stunning New Doc JANE

Sitting in the Sono House Hotel in New York City

after a screening of her new documentary, Jane' ~ she's just walked offstage after a Q-and A with the documentary's director, Brett Morgan ~ and from here, it's off to London, then Japan, then Argentina, and then Mexico. She spends about 300 days a year on the road ~ speaking about her pioneering research in chimpanzee behaviour or calling for action to combat 'climate change'.

At 83, Goodall is a household name, not only as a pioneer for women in the sciences, but as one of the most influential conservationists of all time. She's still as dedicated today and enthusiastic as she was when she first set out for Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania at age 26 ~ with the goal of observing and interacting with chimpanzees in the wild

.

In the early 1960's she worked as the secretary to anthropologist Louis Leakey, who asked her to travel to Gombe to observe chimpanzee behaviour. She didn't have so much as an undergraduate degree ~ and to gain access to the park, she had to travel with a chaperone ~ so she brought along her mother for the first few weeks. After spending months quietly following and watching the chimps, she eventually began interacting with them ~ and soon she witnessed one of the chimps making and using tools ~ the first proof that humans are not the only creatures to do so.

Her solitude was interrupted when National Geographic sent photographer, Hugo van Lawick to Gombe to capture footage of the strange young British woman living with the apes. Morgen constructed his doc from more than 100 hours of van Lawick's early footage ~ footage that was forgotten for decades until it was discovered in National Geographic's archives in 2014.

Widely considered one of the best wildlife photographers of all time,

Van Lawick followed Goodall as she climbed trees barefoot...

washed her hair in streams...and befriended the chimps.

The result is a stunningly cinematic and intimate documentary that serves as a testament to young Goodall's curiosity and tenacity. The documentary also chronicles Goodall and van Lawick's romance from birth of their son in 1967 to their eventual divorce in 1974, but ultimately, Morgen says,

“It's a love story between a woman and her work.”

Interview Questions and Answers:

Entertainment Weekly: What is it about this documentary that makes it so special?

Jane: It immerses me in the best part of my life in a way that none other documentaries have.

Much of the film focuses on the fact that you went to Africa as a 26-year-old woman. Did you have any anxiety bout that?

Jane: No! Not at all. I never wanted to be a scientist. Leaky wanted me to learn about the chimps. He deliberately selected me because because he said, “I want somebody with a mind uncluttered. He didn't think much of the modern people studying behavour, mostly in zoos.

What was your mindset like on your first trip to Gombe?

Jane: Excitement! It was an amazing journey in an overloaded Land Rover. As I went along the lake, I looked up at all these series of valleys and very dense forests. I remember thinking, How am I going to find the chimps?

Watching the film, I was struck by your patience in waiting for the chimps to acclimate to your presence. Were you frustrated?

Jane: I studied animals all my life and I knew you needed patience. Will I succeed before the money runs out? There was money for only six months. That was the problem.

In what ways did your mother impact your life and the path that you took?

Jane: She supported this crazy idea of going off to Africa and living with wild animals. Everybody else laughed. But she just said, You're going to have to work hard and take advantage of the opportunity and don't give up.

Writer: Merle Baird-Kerr...April 4, 2019

To respond: mbairdkerr@bell.net