“If we don’t do something now, future generations will only see animals in zoos”

Every day, a personality invites itself into the world of Élodie Suigo. Friday May 17, 2024: the co-founder of the South African Thula Thula game reserve, Françoise Malby-Anthony. She published with Albin Michel: “The Wisdom of Elephants”.

In 1987, while traveling in London, Françoise Malby-Anthony, waiting for a taxi, met Lawrence Anthony. This idealist and visionary became her husband and with him, she emigrated and created the Thula Thula game reserve in South Africa in 1999. When Lawrence died in 2012, she refused to give up. She took over the management of the reserve and created a wildlife rehabilitation center to care for orphaned animals such as elephants, rhinos, cheetahs, meerkats, etc. She publishes The Wisdom of Elephants published by Albin Michel.

franceinfo: Your book is an immersion into your daily life with these wild species that you sometimes protect at the risk of your life because the poachers are merciless. I have the impression that these animals have finally become members of your heart family.

Françoise Malby-Anthony: Quite. It is my family. Elephants and rhinos are enormous animals, between two tonnes and four and a half tonnes for rhinos and elephants, but they are extraordinarily fragile animals. Elephants and rhinos are vulnerable because of poachers, because of humans in general.

Your first encounter with one of these animals will be a mouse. Unfortunately, she was followed by a huge snake which swallowed her very quickly. You’re more of a city girl and you claim it. How do you feel in this space which could scare many more than we imagine?

At first, of course, it was a culture shock. I had never seen a snake in my life and when I saw this snake I knew one word in Zulu, it was “boulala“, this means “kill“, I called the guard and told him, we must kill him! It was 25 years ago.

“Every creature has its place and every creature must survive. We must not kill animals. For the ecosystem, every animal has its place and we must all learn to live with them.”

Françoise Malby-Anthony

at franceinfo

At the time of Lawrence’s disappearance, the animals came to the house and they came every year for three years. Tell us about the extraordinary bond that exists between humans and animals.

It was an extraordinary moment. It happened precisely two days after Lawrence’s death. He died in Johannesburg. And they arrived at 5 o’clock in the afternoon on March 4 in a procession. They stood in front of the house waiting for something. Lawrence’s death came as a huge surprise to everyone. It was completely unexpected. It was truly a blow and the elephants certainly felt this atmosphere of crying and dismay.

They arrived and stood there for several hours and the next year they came back the same day, at the same time and the year after that too. There is no scientific explanation, but it is still extraordinary. Elephants mourn their dead, that’s a well-known fact, and what they did for Lawrence, I think that was it. Afterwards, they came back to see me to tell me that I was not alone. So, these elephants are like my family, they come to visit us, they come to express something.

You say that at the time of his disappearance, many imagined that you were going to move on. On the contrary, you decided to keep his ideas alive, to go even further in what he had also imagined.

It was my decision, absolutely. I never intended to leave, but because I was a woman and a foreigner, no one believed in me. It must be said that I was not at all prepared to take over from Lawrence. Two weeks after his death, one of my baby rhinoceroses that we had taken in at four months old was attacked by poachers. It was an accumulation of tragedies which made me understand that all the responsibility for the fight against poaching, the future of our elephants, the future of the reserve was on my shoulders and I took responsibility. I also couldn’t imagine letting down all 50 employees.

“Two years after Lawrence’s disappearance, I still managed to realize his dream, expand the reserve, protect our elephants and also double their number.”

Françoise Malby-Anthony

at franceinfo

Some 18 000 is the number of rhinos still alive on the entire planet, a drop of 10% in ten years. In South Africa, the species has declined by more than two thirds. When it comes to African savannah elephants, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed them on its Red List as Endangered and the African Forest Elephant as Endangered. How do we justify this silent extinction?

Many people are not aware of the number of endangered species. There is also the cheetah, there are only 7,000 left and this is a number that is becoming dangerous because of inbreeding. And the list is so long, you can see it in my book which is also intended to raise awareness, to bring more awareness to the problems of the future of wildlife in Africa. If we don’t do something now, future generations will only see animals in zoos, perhaps.

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