Variety

Elephants mourn loss of their human friend

It is not only domesticated animals but also wild animals that become very emotional when it comes to the loss of a human friend. This fact was amply proven when the famous wildlife conservationist and author of “Elephant Whisperer,Lawrence Anthony died on March 2. Anthony died in his sleep in Johannesburg . He was 61.

According to accounts posted in the web, an entire herd of elephants had made a long trek through the jungles to the house where the reknowned conservationist and author Lawrence Anthony had resided at Thula Thula Game Reserve in Durban, to pay homage to their human friend who worked tirelessly to save them long time ago. Apparently the elephants he had saved from the zoo in Baghdad had not been to his house for over a year.

Reg Anthony, former editor and managing director of the Zululand Observer says that the great conservationist made a decision about a year ago to distance himself from the elephants because the herd he had rescued had become too big. As Anthony had been aware of the increasing number of tourists coming to Thula Thula, he had not wanted to endanger them. Even though the elephants had not been to the house for about 15 months, things had changed when he died and the elephants had come back to the house, proving that an elephant never forgets anything done to him,whether good or bad. So, be kind to all animals, not just only to your pets, because they have no one else to help them when they are in trouble.

According to reports the whole herd had come to the house every night since his death .’’Anthony was convinced that they could communicate on another level. And now here they are, every night, coming to say goodbye.”is what a friend had to say after seeing what took place following his death.

‘He was the bravest man I ever met. No, he wasn’t a saint, he was human, but I don’t know of anyone who could do what he has done, is what another close friend had to say when he died.

Graham Spence, a former Durban journalist and co-author of The Elephant Whisperer and Babylon Ark with larger-than-life conservationist Lawrence Anthony, speaks of his absolute friend and brother as a man who never thought about death, or much about the dangerous situations he often put himself into.

However, the biggest question everyone asked following his death was “who is going to look out for the animals now? “Dylan, Anthony’s eldest son, says everything at Thula Thula will go on as before.

“My brother, Jason, and I helped start The Earth Organisation with my dad seven years ago. I am also very involved with the business side of the reserve, so nothing will change.

“David Bozas, who worked with my dad from the beginning and has been running Thula Thula for some years now, will carry on. Nothing will change.” But, Dylan admitted, his father’s sometime offbeat way of doing things would be missed. Perhaps it is not wrong to say that Anthony may be larger in his death than he was even in life.

Anthony’s funeral was held in the Moses Mabhida Stadium.

The family then took the great man’s ashes back to Thula Thula for a private ceremony to“ scatter them where he loved to sit and be with his beloved elephants,” said Dylan his son.About 300 people who gathered at his funeral service heard Anthony’s friends and family recount heroic stories about “the elephant whisperer” and his trips to Baghdad, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo to rescue wildlife. Educated first in Joburg, at King Edward VII School, and then in Empangeni, Anthony was a successful businessman and estate agent.

Anthony is known for his work in wildlife conservation, his books Babylon’s Ark and The Elephant Whisperer, and as the founder of The Earth Organization.He was known the world over through the books for his daring exploits.As described in the Elephant Whisperer, he adopted a wild and traumatised elephant herd, giving the creatures a home on his 2 000-hectare Thula Thula (meaning quiet) Game Reserve in northern Zululand.During the American invasion of Iraq, Anthony went to the rescue of the animals in the famed Baghdad Zoo.