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

See Full Page