Dear Friend,

Despite our best efforts to convey the risks associated with transporting Ndume back to the Cincinnati Zoo — after 27 years of living with his late companion Koko at the Gorilla Foundation's peaceful sanctuary in Woodside, California — or to convey the benefits of creating a natural gorilla family in Woodside, without having to give up his comfortable home or long-term caregivers (and human social net), the court has decided he must go, because of an irrevocable ownership agreement.

We are complying with the court order, and cooperating with the zoo to at least �minimize� the risks associated with Ndume�s transfer and re-integration. Fortunately, the judge has also made it a requirement that our inputs � based on years of personal experience with Ndume � be taken seriously, to reduce the chances that risk becomes reality.

Please Help Us Minimize the Risks to Ndume's Well-Being

My dear friends, please help us minimize as many of the risks and stresses facing Ndume as possible, during this upcoming transition!

Support the Gorilla Foundation�s care team � as we will be participating in every phase of the process, from training him to be comfortable in a transport crate, to accompanying him on the flight, to spending weeks or months as an integral part of the care team at the zoo � providing him with comfort, offsetting any feelings of abandonment, and offering the zoo�s care team the benefit of our vast experience with and affection for Ndume.

After caring for Ndume for almost 3 decades — as both his friends and guardians — we have learned much about what makes him happy, what keeps him healthy, and how he communicates these things, and we will share all of this with his new caregivers to maintain some continuity, as some of the changes in his environment will be dramatic, and Ndume does not usually react well to change.

As an introverted silverback gorilla, who is approaching his senior years at 37, this will be difficult for him, but not impossible — and it is now our responsibility to do everything possible to help him meet the challenges.

Ndume's Safe Transition can be Part of Koko's Legacy

By making a donation today to the Gorilla Foundation, you will be ensuring that his long-term caregivers can continue to support him during what will surely be a frightening experience, at least initially. If we are successful (and lucky), Ndume will adjust, and eventually have some gorilla companions at the zoo which might compensate for his long-demonstrated aversion to strangers and visits from the general public.

If Koko has taught us anything, it's that we must use our knowledge and concern for the individual needs of gorillas — guided by both communication and empathy — to improve their lives and allow them to reach their full potential! This is Koko's Legacy, and we aim to maximize it.

What's Next for The Gorilla Foundation?

When Koko passed away, just before her 47th birthday in 2018, we knew we were going to have to re-focus our efforts and change our strategy to fully realize Koko's legacy. You may be wondering how does �loss� of both Koko and Ndume affect our ability to continue our mission of conservation (and care) through communication. The answer is that while it will be somewhat challenging without the "live" voices or presence of Koko, Michael and Ndume, it has never been more important to communicate the lessons we've learned from them, and we have 5 decades of multimedia data (content), educational curricula and tools, unique expertise, and tropical sanctuary land in Maui to transmit Koko's Legacy to future generations.

If You Want Interspecies Communciation to Live On ...

If you think it�s important for us to continue our dialogue with gorillas (and other great apes) � and not let them be treated as lesser animals who cannot express complex thoughts and feelings, then please support us now.

If you want Koko�s Legacy of interspecies communication and love to be fully realized � by extending it to both captive gorillas in zoos and sanctuaries and free-living gorillas in Africa (before they go extinct, and the only ones left are in zoos), then please support us now.

If you don't want Koko to be the last gorilla in the world who was able to communicate directly with us in sign language, and express her thoughts and feelings and artistic talents and love of nature (and kittens), then please support us now.

And finally, if you want Ndume to have the best chance possible to survive and thrive as we help him make a journey that few (if any) gorillas have ever made before (from sanctuary to zoo) by allowing the Gorilla Foundation to support him and his new care team at every step of the way, (a process that may take months to achieve), then please support us now.

In the meantime, and far beyond, we can continue to improve the status of gorillas (and other great apes) worldwide, by advancing our interspecies communication-based Research, Education, Sanctuary and Conservation programs. But only if you support us now!

Thank you so much!

With Koko-love,

Penny Patterson, Ph.D. President & Director of Research The Gorilla Foundation / Koko.org

PS: Please consider making your donation a "monthly" sustaining one by joining our APE (Automatic pledge Enrollment) membership program. It will enable us to reduce our overhead, focus more on programs, and ask you less frequently for additional support. Thank you in advance!