Jane Goodall praises UAE conservation efforts

The UAE’s plan to transfer seven elephants from Zimbabwe and house them locally is a good one, says long-time primatologist and conservationist Jane Goodall.

In an interview after her talk on Tuesday night to a packed house at New York University Abu Dhabi, Goodall said the government had pledged to humanely house the animals. Under the circumstances, she approves of the transfer.

“Elephants are being killed in their native country,” she said. “These ones were in captivity. It sounds like a really nice enclosure … As it’s a family group, I think it’s OK.”

Abu Dhabi’s Ministry of Environment and Water confirmed the order for the elephants. The animals, of different ages, were living in captivity and are from one family group, including a calf with its mother.

The ministry coordinated with the Scientific Authority in the Environment Authority – Abu Dhabi, to place the animals in an endangered species care and protection conservatory.

The purchase has been controversial, with claims the Zimbabwean government has been capturing animals from the wild and then selling them.

Goodall was invited to Abu Dhabi by Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, the Secretary General of the Environment Agency, for the official local launch of her global youth network conservation programme Roots and Shoots, which she hopes to later roll out to other emirates. Roots and Shoots now has more than 150,000 groups active in 138 countries, from kindergarten to university. The programme began as a pilot project last January at two universities and seven schools, including Al Muna, Al Mushrif and the American Community School.

Original article by Jessica Hill

Continue reading at The National:

Jane Goodall praises UAE conservation efforts