Lawrence Anthony

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Lawrence Anthony (17 September 1950 – 2 March 2012) was a South African conservationist, environmentalist, explorer and author. He was the long-standing head of conservation at the

Anthony died of a heart attack at the age of 61 before his planned March 2012 conservation gala dinner in Durban to raise international awareness for the rhino-poaching crisis and to launch his new book, The Last Rhinos: My Battle to Save One of the World's Greatest Creatures.^[2] Following his death, there were reports that some of the elephants he worked to save came to his family's home in accordance with the way elephants usually mourn the death of one of their own.^[3]

Biography

Anthony was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. His grandfather, who was a miner in Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, had migrated to the area in the 1920s to work in the gold mines. His father, who ran an insurance business, went about establishing new offices across Southern Africa; Anthony was raised in rural Rhodesia (now called Zimbabwe), Zambia, and Malawi, before settling in Zululand, South Africa.^[4]

Anthony also started his career in the insurance sector, though subsequently started working the real estate development business. Meanwhile, he started working with Zulu tribespeople, by mid-1990s, his passion for the African Bush inspired him to switch careers, when he bought the Thula Thula game reserve, spread over 5,000-acre in KwaZulu-Natal starting his career as a conservationist.^[4] He was called by a conservation group to rescue a group of nine elephants who had escaped their enclosure and were wreaking havoc across Northern Mpumalanga,^[5] and were about to be shot. He tried to communicate with the matriarch of the herd through the tone of his voice and body language, eventually rescued them and brought to the reserve, and in time came to be known as "Elephant-whisperer".^[1][4]

In the following years, he established a conservation group, The Earth Organization in 2003, and his efforts led to the establishment of two new reserves, the Royal Zulu Biosphere in Zululand and the Mayibuye Game Reserve in Kwa Ximba, aimed at providing local tribe people income through wildlife tourism.^[4]

Anthony was married to Francoise Malby and lived on the Thula Thula game reserve in Zululand. He has two sons. Francoise Malby Anthony also wrote accounts of their work with the elephants.

After his death, a group of wild elephants which he had helped rescue and rehabilitate walked up to his home on their own, and stood around in an apparent vigil for two days, before disappearing.^[6]

In April 2012, he was posthumously awarded honorary Doctor of Science degree by College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal.^[6]

Baghdad Zoo

Anthony's private focus was the rehabilitation of traumatized African elephant. Anthony's second book, The Elephant Whisperer, tells the story of his working relationship with the African elephant.

Anthony had served on the National Transitional Executive Committee during the South African Governments transition from Apartheid on the panel for the electronic media which appointed the board of directors of the South African Broadcasting Corporation and on the committee which appointed the Film Board of South Africa.

Books

Anthony's books have been translated into several languages. His brother-in-law, Graham Spence co-authored his three books.^[6]

Anthony's first book Babylon's Ark, published by Thomas Dunne Books, is the true story of the wartime rescue of the Baghdad Zoo. Babylon's Ark won the Booklist Editors Choice in the category adult books for young adults, and the French 28th Prix Littéraire 30 millions d'amis literary award, popularly known as the Goncourt for animals.

Anthony's second book,