Dame Daphne Sheldrick

Dame Daphne Sheldrick

"For over 25 years, from 1955 until 1976 ,Kenya born Daphne Sheldrick lived and worked alongside her late husband, David, the famous founder Warden of Kenya's giant Tsavo National Park... For her work in this field Daphne Sheldrick was decorated by the Queen in 1989 with an M.B.E., elevated to U.N.E.P.’s elite Global 500 Roll of Honour in 1992, among the first 500 people worldwide to have been accorded this particular honour, and awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine and Surgery by Glasgow University in June 2000. In December 2001 her work was honoured by the Kenya Government through a prestigious decoration - a Moran of the Burning Spear (M.B.S.), and in 2002 by the B.B.C. when she received their Lifetime Achievement Award. In the November 2005 issue of the Smithsonian Magazine Daphne Sheldrick was named as one of 35 people worldwide who have made a difference in terms of animal husbandry and wildlife conservation. In the 2006 New Year’s Honours List, Queen Elizabeth II appointed Dr. Daphne Sheldrick to Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, the first Knighthood to be awarded in Kenya since the country received Independence in 1963...

"Since the death of her husband in 1977, she has lived and worked in the Nairobi National Park, courtesy of the Kenya Government, her home duplicating as the Orphans' Nursery...

"Daphne Sheldrick has tirelessly campaigned at an International level against the abuse of captive animals, most notably in securing the freedom of some of the Tuli elephant calves kidnapped from their living families in Botswana which were being subjected to brutal "training" in South Africa. Daphne Sheldrick is recognized internationally as probably the world authority on both the African Elephant and the Black Rhinoceros, with a broad knowledge of Natural History and the interlocking role of different species within the environment.

"Through four books, numerous articles, lectures and television appearances, she has promoted wildlife conservation worldwide. The BBC Documentary “Elephant Diaries” depicting her work with the orphaned elephants, filmed over a period of a full year, has received world-wide acclaim, attracting a viewership of 6 million in England alone for the five evenings it was shown on BBC 1. The series will now go to America on the Animal Planet channel and thereafter world wide.

"Currently Daphne is working on her Memoirs, the completion of which is anticipated by the end of 2006. Through the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, established after the death of her husband in 1977 in his memory, she has made a further significant contribution to wildlife conservation in Kenya, supporting the Kenya Wildlife Service by meeting contingency needs during times of economic constraint; funding fuel for anti-poaching forces, de-snaring Park boundaries and mobilizing a fully equipped Mobile Veterinary Unit to deal with the sick and wounded in the Tsavo ecosystem as well as Amboseli , the Shimba Hills and Chuyulu National Parks promptly and unobtrusively responding whenever possible, just as David would have wished."

• Patron, Rhino Ark
• Patron, Tusk Trust