Daphne Sheldrick, a well-known
Kenyan conservationist, has died.
Her organisation, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT),
made the announcement on Friday, describing her as a friend of elephants who "learned to read their hearts."
Daphne
was born in 1934 in
Kenya and
died on Thursday evening "after a long battle with breast cancer," according to DSWT.
She helped protect the country's wildlife for 60 years
helped found the trust in 1977 after the death of her husband.
The statement praised her for helping deepen the world's understanding of elephants and rhinos.
She pioneered raising orphaned infant elephants and rhinos on milk, the statement said, and that the knowledge has since saved 230 elephants in
Kenya.
"Daphne lived alongside elephants and learned to read their hearts...she understood their fragility, their intelligence, their capacity to love," the statement said.
