In some ways this story reads more like a novel than non-fiction due to its pace, twists and engagement. If there's anything seriously wrong with this book, I can't find it. And I really respect Anthony for his knowledge of the wildlife and his general goodness. I fell in love with Max, Anthony's Staffordshire terrier who has no problem taking on a wild boar or a cobra (he kills the cobra). It's amazing how the elephants change - and how quickly they do. He has to start the process all over again.
He needs to teach them to like (or at least tolerate) people without domesticating them - a difficult balance, but he succeeds.Īnthony is then offered another troubled elephant - one who is all alone because the rest of her herd has been shot or sold, and who fears humans. And when they finally get back to Thula Thula, Anthony has to practically live with them to prevent them from escaping again. There's a struggle to recapture them, so that people in nearby villages won't kill them. The elephants escape Thula Thula within 24 hours of their arrival. Their previous owners shot the matriarch and her baby so they wouldn't "cause any more trouble." (You learn later that it's not the elephants who are the problem.) And the herd hates humans even more than it did before. So he says yes.īy the time the elephants arrive at Thula Thula, the herd is down to seven. If Anthony refuses to take the elephants, they'll all be shot. And the matriarch thinks nothing of grabbing an electric wire, and taking the 8,000 volts of electricity long enough to short the wire or tear it down to clear a path for escape. They've escaped several times from their current home. The herd is apparently "rogue." They hate people.
One day, he gets a call from someone offering him a herd of nine elephants for the preserve. Lawrence Anthony runs a nature preserve in South Africa called Thula Thula. That aside, this is a fantastic book about some of nature's most beautiful and amazing animals. So I wish this book had a different title. I'm starting to get bored with the various "whisperers." Especially since most of them don't do any actual whispering to the animals in question.
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