Friends, Docents, and Volunteers,
Kinsley, from Moraga, was helping at the information station as a
volunteer from the National Charity League.
Sylvia, John, and their daughter Natalie, were visiting from
Fremont. Even though they have not met Cynthia in person, they are familiar with
her work because they have a copy of "Echo of the Elephants" video.
Sylvia said that elephants are one of her favorite animals because they are so
majestic. She is also impressed by the fact that elephant families are
matriarchal.
Jason and Mike greeted visitors at the information station in
front of the African Veldt. They are respectively a junior and sophomore at San
Leandro High School. They have been trained and certified as junior docents at
the Oakland Zoo for the past two years. Elephants are one of their favorite
animals because they like large animals. They were here volunteering on the
Celebrating Elephants Day because they know the importance of conserving
elephants in order to prevent their extinction.
Chris Allen lives in Oakland. Her interest in elephants stems
from childhood. In 1989 her respect and love for the elephants deepened when
she became a docent and volunteer at The Oakland Zoo, and now she is an on-call
keeper. Chris met Cynthia Moss for the first time in 1991 at the Amboseli
Elephant Research Project and has had the privilege of returning to the project
several times since. Chris said " we need to continue to learn as much as
we can about elephant behavior in the wild in order to ensure their future as
well as that of the captive elephant." And it is for that reason the
Oakland Zoo held their fourth annual "Celebrating Elephants" event.
Chris plays a key role on the Celebrating Committee that is responsible for the
planning and execution of the event.
Is that Cynthia Moss in person? Not quite. Playing the role of
Cynthia Moss at her Amboseli Research Camp on Saturday was Anne Warner. She was
standing next to the Oakland Zoo Director Dr. Joel Parrott. She is
actually the Director of Conservation at the Oakland Zoo. She lives in Moraga.
Anne has always loved animals, having visited the Oakland Zoo as a kid. She also
studied animal behaviors extensively in college.
Anne got interested in elephants because they have so much
personalities, just like chimpanzees. She found elephants to be "socially
complex, charismatic, and fascinating."
Anne first visited Amboseli in 1991 and has never forgotten
seeing those magnificent elephants with the snow-capped majestic Mt. Kilimanjaro
in the background.
Anne was fortunate enough to meet Cynthia in person in 1998.
Anne founds Cynthia to be an incredible person and was especially impressed by
her serenity and kindness.
Anne is also the person helping to organize Jane Goodall Day on
Oct 7, 2000 at the Oakland Zoo ( http://www.oaklandzoo.org/services/calendar.html
).
Anne coordinates Oakland Zoo's ChimpanZoo program, which involve gathering observations from trained and reliability tested
observers for a central data base. It is an alternative for people interested in
chimps and research but who can't get into the field. The program also collects data
that are useful to keepers and helps the public to better understand what they are
seeing.
In addition of being a member of the Gombe 40 Anne is also the organizer of
Jane Goodall Institute's ( http://www.janegoodall.org/index.html
) Roots and Shoots ( http://www.janegoodall.org/rs/rs_history.html
) program at Oakland. Young people are very important to Jane Goodall and part of her reason for
hope for the future. Anne's Roots and Shoots group is conducting research on native bees among other things. (Another of
Anne's many hats is the coordinator/teacher of all youth programming.)
The special "In Celebration of Elephants" tee-shirt
with a picture of M'Dundamella, was originally done in charcoal pencil by
Amy. In addition to being an artist, Amy is also the giraffe keeper at the Oakland Zoo. She was also the official
photographer on the evening of the lecture and silent auction. She has been with
the Oakland Zoo for six years and really enjoys her work here.
