Lawrence Anthony

President, The Earth Organization; World-Renowned Conservationist who risked his life to rescue the animals of the Baghdad Zoo; Known as The Elephant Whisperer for his unique ability to communicate with elephants

Lawrence famously risked his life to rescue the besieged animals of the Baghdad Zoo as fighting raged during the Iraq War – saving animals who had suffered the trauma of direct aeriel bombings and hand to hand fighting at the zoo, preventing many from being killed by wartime looters searching for food, and miraculously reviving the zoo's abandoned animals – who had been left in locked cages with no food or water, and were dying of hunger and thirst. As millions fled the bombs and bullets of Iraq, Lawrence flew from his home in South Africa to Kuwait, loaded up a rental car with veterinary supplies and food, notified U.S. army top brass he was arriving (he refused to take "No" for an answer!), and, drawing a passionate line in the sand against man’s mistreatment of the animal world, risked everything to save these animals. His dramatic rescue of Iraq’s lions, bears, tigers and other animals is the subject of the book Babylon’s Ark – The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo – now being developed as a major Hollywood film.

Known as The Elephant Whisperer for his unique ability to communicate with elephants, Lawrence is the only known person who can summon a herd of wild elephants who are loyal to him, simply by calling out to them! He rehabilitates problem elephant herds, and individual elephants with behavioral problems (who might otherwise have been destroyed) on his Thula Thula game reserve in South Africa.

His primary conservation focus is the education and involvement of remote, rural African communities in conservation and environmental awareness.

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1950, and raised in Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi, Lawrence grew up in remote rural areas of Africa where he established an early relationship with the African bush. He was school cricket captain, played first team rugby, and hockey.

He negotiated a groundbreaking cease fire between conservationists & game rangers and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a Ugandan rebel army who had occupied Garamba National Park in the north east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), threatening the protection of critically endangered animals there.

Lawrence was the recipient of the United Nations "Earth Day Medal" presented by the Earth Society in New York in 2004 (Al Gore was a previous winner). In his youth, Lawrence recognized the ongoing degradation by Mankind of the Plant and Animal Kingdoms, and the environment, and later in life dedicated himself to finding effective environmental solutions for the benefit of all life forms. In 2003, he decided to collect all his conservation activities under one banner and establish an organization that would carry out his vision towards the attainment of a safeguarded and improving planetary environment, in which all life flourishes – and The Earth Organization was born.

SAYS LAWRENCE:

“Ensuring that our home planet is healthy and life-sustaining is an overwhelming priority that undercuts all other human activities. The ship must float.

Our failure to grasp these fundamental tenets of existence will be our undoing. And one thing is for certain: No cavalry is going to come charging to our rescue; we are going to have to rescue ourselves or die trying.

Workable solutions are urgently needed. Saving seals and tigers or fighting yet another oil pipeline through a wilderness area, while laudable, is merely shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. The real issue is that our elementary accord with Earth and the plant and animal kingdoms has to be revitalized and re-understood.

The burning question is how?

The prophets of doom are already saying it is too late, that the crude and uniformed impact of man on the planet’s life systems is just too great and that we don’t have enough time to turn it all around.

I don’t happen to agree, but I do know that we are entering the endgame. Unless there is a swift and marked change in our attitudes and actions, we could well be on our way to becoming an endangered species.”