Suzie Harrison Visitors from all over filled...

Suzie Harrison

Visitors from all over filled the Cougar Fund benefit to capacity

for the rare opportunity to see wildlife expert Jane Goodall as well

as support her causes.

The talk took place at the Festival of Arts grounds Wednesday and

proceeds went to the Cougar Fund and the Jane Goodall Institute.

On the morning after, Goodall recapped her thoughts on the evening

and her causes in an interview with the Coastline Pilot.

“I think it went really well it was a wonderful atmosphere and

people clearly enjoyed themselves, staying for hours”, Goodall said.

“We all have these choices we make every single day,” Goodall

said. “And you can make the world around you better or worse -- you

need to get people to think about it.”

Goodall said that people who are well-off financially can make a

difference in the products they buy and companies they support.

“The most important choice is what you buy and don’t buy,” Goodall

said. “The wealthy can change the world. They have the luxury of

making the choice to change the course of business, the environment,

society and good ethics.”

Goodall signed her books as midnight approached and as lines of

people waited for the opportunity to speak with her.

“There were so many memberships and we ran out of books,” Goodall

said.

After showing a moving documentary about the cougar and it’s

plight, the audience members were wiping their tears in disbelief.

They had just watched a hunter use his dogs corner a cougar up a tree

while he justified his reason for killing the animal. The audience

then watched him shoot the cougar.

“I stand before everyone -- moved, tears in eyes, and take you on

a journey how I got here,” Goodall said.

The hunter realized after the shooting that he had killed a female

cougar, which accounts for more than half the population killed

according to Cara Lowe Blessley, co-founder of the Cougar Fund.

“In 2000, 3,152 cougars where killed leaving 2,350 orphaned cubs,”

world-renowned wildlife photographer and Cougar Fund co-founder Tom

Mangelsen said.

Goodall explained that the chance Louis Leakey gave her in 1960 to

study the chimpanzees in Gombe changed her life. Although she hasn’t

had a lot of time to visit often, she still sees some of the

chimpanzees she studied more than 40 years ago.

“Fifi, who was a baby then, is now 43 and the matriarch of the

community, my oldest chimp friend and I share memories no one else

shares,” Goodall said.

She explained the emotion of seeing some of the same chimpanzees,

looking into their eyes and sharing certain memories.

Even though it has been proven, Jane is frustrated that there

still is the misconception that only humans have minds and emotions.

“Look into those eyes, don’t they matter too? Not only are they

beings with personalities, minds and feelings, but we are the fifth

great ape,” Goodall said. “And there are other great animals with

which we share our planet.”

She said the animals are disappearing through man’s actions.

“We’re poisoning and polluting our air and water,” Goodall said.

“The whole global scene is grim. Our human effect is actually

changing our global climate.”

Goodall spends 300 days a year traveling the world to bring

awareness.

“Thinking about the mountain lion and the loss of habitat and

hunting is shocking,” Goodall said.

She explained that it’s an intricate network and we all live on

planet earth and we can change things.

Goodall was doing more than promoting the Cougar Fund, she also

discussed her Roots and Shoots program that focuses on educating

youth.

“They desperately want to do something to help,” said Goodall.

“They’re the hope of the future, the shining eyes of the young.”

The evening had begun with world-renowned wildlife photographer

and co-founder of the Cougar Fund Tom Mangelsen and co-founder Cara

Blessley Lowe, both telling their moving stories about how and why

the Cougar Fund was started.

About 1,487 people attended the event, and 19 artists donated art

to be auctioned for the benefit.

“We’re so excited that the Cougar Fund has a presence in Laguna

Beach,” said Blessley Lowe. “The cougar fund works with grass-roots

and national organizations to protect the natural habitats.”

Their No. 1 goal is to preserve cougars habitats.

“We need to work cooperatively to advance all our goals,

especially the environment, land conservation and related issues to

make sure these goals are met,” Mangelsen said.

Mangelsen had spent more than 40 days in the National Elk Refuge

in Jackson Hole, Wyo. observing a family of cougars.

“She changed my life with her cubs and how difficult it was to

raise her cubs,” Mangelsen said.

He used more than 400 roles of film, capturing moments of their

lives and is determined to give back to the cougars.

* SUZIE HARRISON is a reporter for the Laguna Beach Coastline

Pilot. She may be reached at 494-4321.