For over 30 years the world famous Jungle Jack Hanna has been making regular appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman.
On May 20th, 2015 David Letterman will host his final show, and the weeks leading up to the final show have been filled with regular guests bidding farewell to Letterman.
Tonight, April 29th 2015, Jack Hanna will bid farewell to his old friend. Hanna told his hometown newspaper, the Columbus Dispatch:
“It’s going to be hard — I’ll miss him. Sometimes, I get really emotional about it, and if that happens (tonight) I know he’ll crack on me. But I don’t know how to thank him.”
Hanna’s appearances on the Late show over the last 30 years have helped create awareness for threatened and endangered animals throughout the world. In the video above from 1985, Hanna warns that the gorillas he has on the show are endangered and that they might not be around in 10-15 years. 30 years later we can see through Herculean conservation efforts by zoos, conservation groups and non-governmental organizations in Africa the Western Lowland Gorilla is still critically endangered, but it is not extinct.
We want to thank David Letterman for being a champion of conservation over the past 30 years and for giving us lots of laughs and helping millions of people learn the plight of wild animals.
For Jack Hanna’s last appearance he will be bringing a baby leopard, a kookaburra, an otter, a flamingo, a serval and an alligator.
#ThanksDave