DAPHNE SHELDRICK (KENYA)
For over 25 years, Daphne Sheldrick has worked with animals, becoming an authority on the rearing of wild creatures and is the first person to have perfected the milk formula and necessary husbandry for infant milk-dependent elephants and rhinos.

She has successfully hand-reared over 70 newborn elephant orphans in her home, which doubles as orphaned-animal nursery. Sheldrick has also successfully raised and rehabilitated over a dozen Black Rhino orphans. Her expertise in the animal kingdom has been instrumental in helping many other elephants across the continent and beyond, in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Uganda and Cameroon, as well as n India, Thailand, and Sri Lanka.

Her contribution to the wildlife industry and tireless campaigning against the abuse of captive animals has earned her several awards including a 2006 appointment by Queen Elizabeth II as Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.