Betty Leslie-Melville
Betty Leslie-Melville (née McDonnell) (March 7, 1927 – September 23, 2005) was an American conservationist. She was instrumental in creating sanctuaries to preserve the subspecies of the Rothschild's giraffe in Kenya. Often called the "Giraffe Lady", she spent much of her life living and working in Kenya protecting and caring for the Rothschild's giraffe population there, primarily through a breeding programme established at her residence, Giraffe Manor. During her time working there, the Rothschild's giraffe population grew from about one hundred twenty to over four hundred.
Along with her husband Jock Leslie-Melville and their adopted giraffe Daisy, she was the subject of the film The Last Giraffe (1979) with Susan Anspach playing Betty.[1]
As part of their fund-raising efforts, Betty and Jock Leslie-Melville collaborated on a series of books about animals, most of them characterised by Betty's rather breathless style. Raising Daisy Rothschild (1977) "the story of two delightful young people and how they raised and grew to love a young giraffe... or two" became a best-seller. More animal stories followed: Elephant Have Right of Way (1973), There's a Rhino in the Rose Bed, Mother (1973), That Nairobi Affair (1975) and Walter Warthog (1989), a children's story about the tame warthog they named after their friend Walter Cronkite, the CBS news anchorman. The books helped to raise more funds for the Giraffe Centre they set up at Langata, Kenya in 1983.
See also
- Giraffe Centre, Nairobi, Kenya
- Giraffe Manor, Nairobi, Kenya