Blythe Loutit

Blythe Loutit née Pascoe (14 November 1940 Natal - 15 June 2005 Namibia), was a founder member of the [http://www.rhino-trust.org.na/ Save the Rhino Trust] (SRT), an artist and a respected conservationist. [ [http://www.namibian.com.na/2005/June/national/05BAA16CFC.html SRT founder Blythe Loutit dies ] ]

The youngest of four children, she grew up on her parents' farm in Natal and received her schooling in Pietermaritzburg. Inspired by her mother who was a landscape painter, Blythe worked for some time as a botanical illustrator at the [http://www.sanbi.org/ Botanic Research Institute] of South Africa and met biologist Rudi Loutit, her future husband, at the [http://www.wildernesstrails.org.za/ Wilderness Leadership School] in Natal. They were married in 1973 [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article535206.ece Blythe Loutit | Times Online Obituary ] ] and because the war in Angola ruled out settling there, they opted for the relative safety of Namibia. Rudi accepted a position at the [http://www.namibweb.com/skeleton.htm Skeleton Coast National Park] while Blythe spent her time drawing and painting. Outraged by the slaughter of rhino and elephant in the area at the hands of the South African Defence Force 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 rhino and elephants in the desert.

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 the SRT widely regarded as being comprehensive and reliable. The problems Blythe Loutit faced were similar to those experienced in the 1950s by Ian Player in trying to save the white rhino.

Blythe illustrated a number of books on Namibian flora, [ [http://www.namibiana.de/index.cfm?action=ViewDetails&itemid=1887 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 ] ] landscapes and wildlife, most of the proceeds going to rhino conservation. "Save the Rhino Trust" was founded to try and halt the destruction of the desert-dwelling black rhinoceros in the Kunene Region (Damaraland and Kaokoland). Since 1982 she had devoted all her time to rhino projects in Namibia.

In 1986 Blythe received the IUCN Species Survival Commission's Peter Scott Merit Award, the 'Survival Award for the Conservation of an Endangered Species' in 1992, and in 2001 the BBC's 'Animal Award for the Conservation of a Species'.

Blythe Loutit died of cancer in 2005. She was survived by her husband Rudi.

Bibliography

*Loutit, Blythe - "Checklist: Etosha National Park", Struik Publishers, ISBN 1868256294 (1-86825-629-4)
*Loutit, Blythe - "The Magic Elephant of the Namib", Out of Africa Publishers, ISBN 9991621784 (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, ISBN 9991640177 (99916-40-17-7)
*Loutit, Blythe, Muller and Giess - "Grasse Van Suidwes Afrika", Namibie Direktoraat Landbou en Bosbou, Departement Landbou en Natuurbewaring, ISBN 0620065826 (0-620-06582-6)

References

External links

* [http://www.rhino-trust.org.na/html/body_loutite.html Blythe Loutit - A Tribute]
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1492179/Blythe-Loutit.html "Telegraph" Biography]