We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of our wonderful Patron and Visionary Dr Jane Goodall, PhD, DBE, Founder – the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace. Jane’s 60 years of ground-breaking work has shown us the urgent need to protect chimpanzees from extinction. She also redefined species conservation to include the needs of local people and the environment.

Ground-breaking work

She founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977 and was a United Nations Messenger of Peace. Today there are 23 Jane Goodall Institutes globally, including two sanctuaries for orphan chimpanzees. Dr Goodall also founded Roots & Shoots, empowering young people of all ages to become involved in hands-on projects for their community, animals and the environment in more than 65 countries.

At our conference on animal sentience in 2005, Jane told her story. As she said then: “Humans are unique, chimpanzees are unique, elephants are unique, and pigs are unique”.

Jane had already been deeply influenced by Peter Singer’s book, Animal Liberation, published in 1975, saying: “The next time I saw meat on my plate I thought ‘ah, that symbolizes fear, pain, death’. And I didn’t eat any more ever again”. Jane went on to publish a vegan cookbook – Eat Meatless – in 2021, addressing the huge environmental problems caused by factory farming.

At one of our events in 2020 she said: “Our disrespect for wild animals and our disrespect for farmed animals has created this situation where disease can spill over to infect human beings. We have come to a turning point in our relationship with the natural world”. The solution, she said, lies with us: we should “eat less meat, or no meat, and turn to plant-based diets”.

An advocate for change

Jane became an outspoken advocate for change. She even called on the European Commission to “reform its EU farm products promotion policy so that it provides support and incentives for the crucial shift to more plant-based diets in Europe. This will benefit people, animals and the planet”.

At our Extinction or Regeneration conference in London in May 2023, Jane emphasised that “we are just part of the natural world”. She admitted that investigative films of animals in factory farms “have kept me awake at night”. She knew that every animal is an individual who “can feel depression, fear and pain”.

We are honoured to have had Jane as our Patron, and her legacy will continue to guide our fight to end factory farming for a kinder, more sustainable world.

Dr Jane Goodall – a pioneer of conservation & animal welfare