Ingham’s W RLD
LAST month a terrified, dehydrated baby elephant, her mother killed by poachers, was facing certain death in the Zambian bush. Today she is getting 24/7 care complete with hot-water bottles and a heat lamp after being rescued and taken to an elephant orphanage. Little Mkaliva is one of countless animals from Africa to Asia that owe their lives to charismatic British conservationist David Shepherd, who died aged 86 earlier this week. He set up Mkaliva’s elephant orphanage, now run by Game Rangers International, to protect the forgotten victims of poaching.
In Britain, David is best known for his hugely popular wildlife paintings with defiant bull elephants his trademark (below). But he didn’t just paint leopards, lions, tigers and rhinos. He tried to save them.
He became a conservationist in 1960 in Tanzania when he found 255 zebras poisoned by poachers. So he began raising a fortune by selling art – his and other artists’ – to fund conservation work.
By 1984 he had founded the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation which, from its Surrey HQ, has raised nearly £9million.
Successes include helping save the Siberian tiger from extinction. In the 1990s these wonderful animals looked doomed. Now there are more than 450 roaming the Russian Far East.
David, who with his shock of white hair was as charming as he was single-minded, set up Zambia’s first-ever pangolin protection scheme and co-funded the first “eyes in the sky” plane to track poachers in Zambia’s Kafue National Park. He helped protect Ugandan elephants and Mongolian snow leopards and ensure the survival of Namibia’s black rhinos.
His crusade will not die with him. His daughters, including Mandy, a fellow wildlife artist, and Melanie, the trustees’ chairwoman, will continue the fight. They know precisely what drove him on. “What more could an artist wish for,” he said, “but to repay my debt to the animals I painted.” Mkaliva is living proof he kept his word.
davidshepherd.org NATURE is set to put on its glad rags so for the best autumn colours try these Forestry Commission sites: Symonds Yat overlooking the Wye in the Forest of Dean; Carron Crag in Grizedale, Cumbria; Bedgebury Pinetum, Kent; Delamere Forest, Cheshire; the Japanese maples at Westonbirt Arboretum, Glos; and Hamsterley Forest, County Durham. PASSCHENDAELE, now a byword for mud and blood, fostered the modern weather forecast, says the Met Office. As the Flanders battle raged 100 years ago Met Office mathematician Lewis Fry Richardson devised forecasts based on current conditions. It took this ambulance driver six weeks to calculate a six-hour forecast. Now it takes seconds on your mobile phone. GREEN TIP: Michaelmas daisies have autumn nectar for bees and butterflies and beautiful purple flowers. SOME of the world’s deadliest creatures could help save lives. Poisonous frogs, often used by Amazonian tribes to create lethal darts, avoid poisoning themselves thanks to a tiny genetic mutation, Texas University researchers tell Science. This discovery could help experts develop new painkillers or drugs to fight nicotine addiction. BA’s jets will soon be powered by nappies. It has signed a deal with renewable fuels firm Velocys to take rubbish destined for dumps and incinerators and turn it into clean-burning fuel. The ghastly pile of festering trash will include nappies, turning them from an eco-nightmare to green power.