Blythe Loutit née Pascoe (14 November 1940, in

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

– 15 June 2005, in

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

) was a founder member of th
Save the Rhino Trust
(SRT), an artist and a respected conservationist.

Biography

The youngest of four children, she grew up on her parents' farm in Natal and received her schooling in

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...

. Inspired by her mother, who was a landscape gardener, Blythe worked for some time as a botanical illustrator at th
Botanic Research Institute
of South Africa and met Rudi Loutit, her future husband, at th
Wilderness Leadership School
in Natal. They were married in 1973 and because the war in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

ruled out settling there, they opted for the relative safety of Namibia. Rudi took up a position at th
Skeleton Coast National Park
while Blythe spent her time drawing and painting. Outraged by the slaughter of

rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

and

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...

s in the area at the hands of the

South African Defence Force The South African Defence Force (SADF) (Afrikaans: ''Suid-Afrikaanse Weermag'') comprised the armed forces of South Africa from 1957 until 1994. Shortly before the state reconstituted itself as a republic in 1961, the former Union Defence F ...

soldiers and poachers in the 1980s, Blythe Loutit and Ina Britz formed the ''Namibia Wildlife Trust'', followed a few years later by the ''Save the Rhino Trust'', aimed at conserving the rhinos and elephants in the savanna. Blythe enlisted the help of tribal chiefs, news media, miners, geologists and even soldiers, and appointed rehabilitated poachers as game guards. She involved village communities, badgered government officials and set up community tourism programmes. Politicians and affluent businessmen who entered Namibia to hunt for trophies, were identified by name in the media. Her personal initiative averted probable extinction for the black rhino in Namibia as rhino numbers slowly grew and the information compiled by SRT became widely regarded as comprehensive and reliable. The problems Blythe Loutit faced were similar to those experienced in the 1950s by

Ian Player Ian Cedric Audley Player Decoration for Meritorious Services, DMS (15 March 1927 – 30 November 2014) was a South African international conservationist. Biography Born in Johannesburg, Player was educated at St John's College (Johannesbur ...

in trying to save the

white rhino The white rhinoceros, white rhino or square-lipped rhinoceros (''Ceratotherium simum'') is the largest extant species of rhinoceros. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species. The white rhinoceros consists ...

. Blythe illustrated a number of books on Namibian flora,Namibiana Buchdepot: Buch, Bücher, Karten, Video, CD, DVD, Reiseführer, Geschichte, Antiquariat, Flora, Fauna, Kunst, Kultur, Gesellschaft, Botswana, Südafrika, Sambia, Malawi, Simbabwe, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kolonie, Mission
/ref> landscapes and wildlife, most of the proceeds going to rhino conservation. ''Save the Rhino Trust'' was founded to try to halt the destruction of the desert-dwelling

black rhinoceros The black rhinoceros, black rhino or hook-lipped rhinoceros (''Diceros bicornis'') is a species of rhinoceros, native to eastern and southern Africa including Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania ...

in the

Kunene Region Kunene is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its capital is Opuwo, its governor is Marius Sheya. The region's name comes from the Kunene River which forms the northern border with Angola. Besides the capital Opuwo, the region contains the ...

(

Damaraland Damaraland was a name given to the north-central part of what later became Namibia, inhabited by the Damara (people), Damaras. It was bounded roughly by Ovamboland in the north, the Namib Desert in the west, the Kalahari Desert in the east, a ...

and

Kaokoland Kaokoland was an administrative unit and a ''bantustan'' in northern South West Africa (now Namibia). Established during the apartheid era, it was intended to be a self-governing homeland of the OvaHimba, but an actual government was never e ...

). Since 1982 she had devoted all her time to rhino projects in Namibia. In 1986 Blythe received the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

Species Survival Commission's

Peter Scott Sir Peter Markham Scott, (14 September 1909 – 29 August 1989) was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer, broadcaster and sportsman. The only child of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, he took an interest in ...

Merit Award together with husband Rudi Loutit, the Survival Award for the Conservation of an Endangered Species in 1992, and in 2001 the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

's Animal Award for the Conservation of a Species. Blythe Loutit died of cancer in 2005.

Bibliography

*Loutit, Blythe - ''Checklist: Etosha National Park'', Struik Publishers, (1-86825-629-4) *Loutit, Blythe - ''The Magic Elephant of the Namib'', Out of Africa Publishers, (99916-2-178-4) *Loutit, Blythe, Berry and Muller - ''Trees and Shrubs of the Etosha National Park and in Northern and Central Namibia'', Namibia Scientific Society, (99916-40-17-7) *Loutit, Blythe, Muller and Giess - ''Grasse Van Suidwes Afrika'', Namibie Direktoraat Landbou en Bosbou, Département Landbou en Natuurbewaring, (0-620-06582-6)

References

External links

Blythe Loutit - A Tribute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loutit, Blythe 1940 births 2005 deaths Botanical illustrators South African conservationists Namibian conservationists Namibian people of South African descent People from KwaZulu-Natal 20th-century Namibian painters