TORONTO — Jane Goodall’s friend Dax Dasilva says one of the most remarkable things about the conservationist was an ability to draw animals towards her.
Dasilva, a Vancouver-born entrepreneur and environmentalist, came to know Goodall in 2023 when they travelled to the Brazilian Amazon together to start a new branch of a youth conservation program.
They developed a friendship that saw the duo spend time in eastern Africa on Goodall’s last trip to Tanzania, in celebration of the 65th anniversary of the beginning of her groundbreaking field research on chimpanzees.
Dasilva recalled one instance when visiting an area called Saadani, where one of her proteges took up conservation work protecting elephants.
“We were driving through the bush in Saadani and a massive, massive herd of wild elephants that are very elusive … all came out of the forest to meet Jane. It was the most incredible thing that any of us had ever seen,” he said.
Throughout their friendship, Dasilva knew Goodall as a deeply spiritual person and master storyteller with a “mischievous sense of humour” and dry wit. Goodall died Wednesday at age 91.
“It’s a tremendous loss for the entire planet,” Dasilva said.
“She was somebody that lived in the purest of service,” he said. “Just spending time with Jane you learn such a tremendous amount. She’s an inspiration to everyone. What I’ve learned is that she has a message of hope, but hope is only wishful thinking unless there’s action.”
Born in London in 1934, the conservationist was renowned for environmental advocacy that started with her field research on chimpanzees in what is now Tanzania.
Goodall spent months observing the animals, watching them use tools and do other activities that were previously believed to be exclusive to human beings.
Her documented observations also noted the animals each had distinct personalities, and her discoveries went on to transform how the world perceived the emotional and social complexity of all animals through several documentary and magazine features.
Kerry Bowman, an environmentalist and bioethicist at the University of Toronto who had a years-long friendship with Goodall after they started working together on a documentary, says there is “no one of her stature” doing conservation work.
“Jane Goodall as a human being is just simply not going to be replaced,” Bowman said in an interview Wednesday. “She was very worried about authoritarianism (and) completely walking away from climate goals. She was a person many people would listen to and she’s gone. So it leaves a huge hole.”
Bowman also remembers Goodall as someone who shows that one person can have a global impact.
“So many people like to say, ‘well, the individual matters.’ Well, Jane Goodall is living proof as to how much an individual can actually do in one lifetime,” he said.
Bowman also noted Goodall’s hopeful attitude over her decades-spanning career appealed to young people, inspiring several youth-oriented initiatives, including the Roots & Shoots program out of the Jane Goodall Institute.
Goodall is known in Canada for backing a Senate bill put forward by then-senator Murray Sinclair that sought to ban keeping elephants and great apes in captivity unless it was for the animals’ best interests, and would also ban importing elephant ivory and hunting trophies.
That bill passed through the Senate last December. It was one of several bills that were thrown out when Parliament was prorogued in January, but Culture Minister Steven Guilbeault — who served as environment minister under the previous Justin Trudeau government — says the government is looking for ways to reintroduce the bill.
“We feel that this is an important issue to keep moving forward on,” Guilbeault told The Canadian Press.
Prime Minister Mark Carney paid tribute to Goodall on social media on Wednesday, calling her a “tireless guardian of nature.”
“Dr. Jane Goodall changed the way we understand animals — and our own humanity,” Carney wrote. “Her advocacy inspired generations and her research revolutionized the field of biology.”
Weeks before her death, Goodall’s speaking tour brought her to Toronto, where she gave a lecture and did a fireside chat with media personality George Stroumboulopoulos. Toronto resident Kailey Sibley, who was in the crowd to see her longtime personal hero speak, described Goodall as “so sharp and so witty” throughout the event — especially when taking a few shots at billionaire Elon Musk.
“Strombo asked her if there was … anyone had ever attacked her online for what she does. And she said the only person who has ever attacked her online was Elon Musk,” Sibley said.
“(Goodall) talked about focusing on our planet and the impact we’re having on the planet we live on and she was like, ‘that is what I think people should focus on maybe more so than billionaires going to space,'” she said with a laugh.
Despite acknowledging the climate crisis during her talk, Sibley said Goodall imparted a “message of hope” for the future.
“She was very hopeful for the future and hopeful in young people. I think that a big part of her message was just doing what you can at an individual level,” she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 2, 2025.
— with files from The Associated Press
Cassidy McMackon, The Canadian Press
