Further Information
Volunteer with the Jane Goodall Institute in Uganda

Who is Jane Goodall?

In 1957, Jane Goodall, aged 23 years and with no formal academic qualifications, saved up enough money to travel to Africa. There she met the famed anthropologist Dr Louis Leakey. He became her mentor, proposing that she undertake a pioneering study of wild chimpanzees in Tanzania, East Africa. In 1960 she arrived at what is now the Gombe National Park and began the field study that has made her one of the best known scientists in the world. Five years later, after earning a PhD in Ethology at Cambridge University, Dr Goodall returned to Tanzania and established the Gombe Stream Research Centre.

Today, with much of the data collected by a team of skilled Tanzania field staff, the centre continues to contribute to significant findings in chimpanzee behaviour and ecology. This study is the longest unbroken field study of any group of animals in the world.

What is the Jane Goodall Institute?

The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) is a tax exempt, non-profit organisation, founded in 1977. The institute is committed to wildlife research and conservation, particularly of chimpanzees; welfare of non-human animals; and environmental and humanitarian education. The South African JGI was established in 1997. The institute is dedicated to investigating and publicising the endangered status of chimpanzees in the world and the sometimes deplorable conditions that they are subjected to in captivity, for entertainment, the pet trade and medical research.

Background Information

Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes) are a member of the Great Ape family and are found solely in Africa. This species once inhabited the entire equatorial zone, now occupied by 25 African countries, but their range in population is decreasing at an accelerated rate as human populations increase throughout the region. Chimpanzees are now only found in 21 of these countries (estimated between 20,000-100,000) and their populations have become fragmented and isolated due to this human encroachment. Currently the major threats to survival of the species are: illegal poaching for bush meat and the pet trade, as well as deforestation for agriculture and logging. Chimpanzees are on the endangered species list and are protected, in many countries by CITES (Convention for International Trade of Endangered Species) laws.

Threats Facing Chimpanzees in the Wild

Bushmeat Trade – Chimpanzees have been eaten by people living in the forests of Africa for centuries. However, with the increasing urban population, the demand from the urban markets, the opening up of forests by logging companies and the increased access to guns and ammunition, bushmeat has become a commercial trade. It is currently regarded by some experts (Goodall, etc.) the greatest threat facing chimpanzees and other great apes in Africa.

Habitat Destruction - Every second an acre of tropical rainforest in the world disappears. Forests are cut down in Africa for timber to supply the West with hardwood products, as well as building materials and fuel and to provide space for agriculture. Many animals, including chimpanzees, are being forced to live in smaller and more fragmented or degraded areas.

Live Infant Trade - Many infant chimpanzees witness their mother’s death and are forcibly taken from their forest home and their family, to be sold into the illegal exotic pet trade. It is estimated that nine out of ten of these infants die before reaching their final destination, and those that survive often suffer from loneliness, boredom, malnutrition and a short life.

The Uganda Situation

For the chimpanzees living in the forests of Uganda, the greatest threat they face is from snares set for smaller hoof game. Snare injuries can result in the loss of a limb and sometimes death. While a few snare removal programmes are now in operation, over the past couple of years a new threat has developed. There has been a large influx of baby chimpanzees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as a result of the war. Infant chimpanzees are either illegally sold to people in Uganda or frequently smuggled to Middle Eastern or other countries, where the demand for exotic pets still exists.

JGI'S Mission Statement

To increase the power of individuals to take informed and compassionate action to improve the environment for all living things.

This is achieved by:

• Believing the individual is paramount
• Creating, managing and maintaining one or more chimpanzee sanctuaries for the long-term care of chimpanzees that have been orphaned, abandoned, confiscated or are in need of assistance
• Assisting in the conservation of wild chimpanzee populations and their natural habitat
• Undertaking activities that promote and support the sustainable conservation of wildlife species and their natural habitats
• Developing, through education and public awareness programmes, an understanding and appreciation of chimpanzees and their habitat, and wildlife in general
• Believing in a holistic, total systems approach to the resolution of problems
• Continually improving our technologies with regard to the captive care of chimpanzees
• Ensuring that the captive population is managed in a way that will allow for reintroduction to take in the future, if so needed.