Death

The Man with an Elephant-Sized Legacy 

On 2 March 2012, Lawrence Anthony passed on at the age of 61 from a heart attack. He was due to give a speech at the Conservation Gala dinner in Durban to raise awareness for the rhino-poaching crisis and to release his third book about his battle to save the last four rhinos. It was and still remains as an elephant-sized loss to the human and animal community alike.

Line of elephants approaching Anthony’s house for mourning 

Heartwarmingly, without any scientific explanation, two separate elephant herds at the Thula Thula game reserve left their grazing grounds and visited Anthony’s house the day he died. This is similar to how elephants mourn the death of their own. Without any possible prior notice, it was as if the elephants just knew! It has been three years since they visited and it is also estimated that the herds would have had to travel 12 hours before reaching the destination. The herds dwelled around the house for two days and two nights without eating anything, before disappearing back into the African bush.

                       “They came every evening for the next week as the sun set,                                      until his ashes were scattered on the land he loved. Then they left.”            – The Last Rhinos, co- author Graham Spence 

Lawrence Anthony is survived by his wife Francoise Malby, two sons and two grandsons. Although he has passed on, but his burning passion still lives on through the lives of others he has touched and through the organisations that he has established.