When the old keeper forgot one latch, the 400-pound silverback reached through the steel

in front of her. She had run Redwood Mesa for fourteen years and had survived fires, funding crises, activist campaigns, permit battles, and the slow heartbreak of animals arriving with histories no one could undo. I had never seen her look as tired as she did that day.

Leena connected her laptop to the wall screen. Two lines appeared on a chart: one continue reading …