Dear Valued Supporter,
When I first started working with Koko (in the early 1970’s) she was living at the San Francisco Zoo. Often we would head outside to walk around and visit other zoo residents!
She loved to visit the llamas! She would walk up to the entire herd, sit down behind the mesh fence, and then (like any precocious child), she would shake the mesh to see the llamas scatter.
She was also fascinated by the hyenas and the tigers, but would keep her distance, as they didn’t seem to like being on exhibit and would pace back and forth.
These visits got me thinking that If Koko could act more like a visitor than an animal on display, should our fellow great apes be on exhibit at all?
It also helped me realize I wanted to provide an environment for Koko where she didn’t have to spend her life on exhibit!
Thank you for watching our Koko Video News casts, which reveal highlights of a 5-decade study of interspecies communication with gorillas, and our strategic applications of this unique content to help save gorillas from extinction — and captivity.
With Koko-Love,
Dr. Penny Patterson
President, CEO and Founder
The Gorilla Foundation / Koko.org
Conservation through Communication
The Gorilla Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Our Federal Tax ID is: 942-38-6151
