#Conservation: Jane Goodall to champion chimpanzees in Laikipia

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PHOTO: The Jane Goodall Institute

Dr. Jane Goodall, renowned for her groundbreaking studies of chimpanzees in the wild, will join Director General of KWS to visit the only chimpanzee sanctuary in Kenya, and hold a talk in nearby Nanyuki on Thursday, 14th of July 2016.

Dr. Jane Goodall will join Mr. Kitili Mbathi, Director General of the Kenya Wildlife Service, to visit the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary in Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Dr. Goodall pioneered the study of wild chimpanzee behaviour, and now even in her eighties is still an active campaigner for wildlife conservation and animal rights. Her visit to Sweetwaters will be followed by a talk at the Mount Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki, and marks the 25th anniversary of the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots Programme.

The Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary is the only place in Kenya to see chimpanzees, which are not native to the country. The Sanctuary was established in 1993, in an agreement between the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, the Kenya Wildlife Service and the Jane Goodall Institute. It aims to provide lifelong refuge to orphaned and abused chimpanzees from West and Central Africa, and is now home to 38. Many are confiscated from cramped and unnatural living conditions in captivity, and many arrive with horrific injuries sustained from abuse at the hands of humans. Dr. Goodall will talk about the illegal trade in great apes at the Mount Kenya Safari Club.

The Jane Goodall Institute has established Roots & Shoots programmes in dozens of countries, aimed at engaging young people in understanding the importance of wildlife and biodiversity conservation. All across the world, active Roots & Shoots members are planting trees, leading public awareness campaigns, saving abandoned animals, helping the homeless, reducing their communities’ waste, protecting clean water and promoting biodiversity. Today, the Roots & Shoots network has blossomed into more than 150,000 members in over 130 countries, all working on local and global service projects.

This will be the first time Dr. Goodall has ever spoken in Nanyuki, where she will also take questions about great ape conservation, their illegal trade for use as pets and in entertainment, and the purpose of sanctuaries.

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