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 Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

– 15 June 2005, in

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

) was a founder member of th
Save the Rhino Trust
(SRT), an

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

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 (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King ...

. 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 Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

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 ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

and

elephant Elephants are the largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ('' Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian elephant ('' Elephas maximus ...

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 Fo ...

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 DMS (15 March 1927 – 30 November 2014) was a South African international conservationist. Ian Player was one of the world's outstanding conservationists and environmental statesmen. He earned his stripes in the ...

in trying to save the

white rhino The white rhinoceros, also known as the white rhino or square-lipped rhinoceros (''Ceratotherium simum''), is the largest extant species of rhinoceros and the most Sociality, social of all rhino species, characterized by its wide mouth adapted f ...

. Blythe illustrated a number of books on Namibian flora, 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 (''Diceros bicornis''), also called the black rhino or the hooked-lip rhinoceros, is a species of rhinoceros native to East Africa, East and Southern Africa, including Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Moza ...

in the

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

(

Damaraland Damaraland was a name given to the north-central part of South West Africa, which later became Namibia, inhabited by the Damaras. It was bordered roughly by Ovamboland in the north, the Namib Desert in the west, the Kalahari Desert in the e ...

and

Kaokoland Kaokoland was an administrative unit and a Bantustan in northern South West Africa (now Namibia). Established in 1980 during the apartheid era, it was intended to be a self-governing homeland of the Ovahimba, but an actual government was nev ...

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

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

Species Survival Commission's

Peter Scott Sir Peter Markham Scott (14 September 1909 – 29 August 1989) was a British ornithologist, conservation movement, conservationist, painter, naval officer, broadcaster and Sportsperson, sportsman. The only child of Antarctic explorer Robert Fal ...

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

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's Animal Award for the Conservation of a Species. Blythe Loutit died of cancer in 2005.SRT founder Blythe Loutit dies
/ref>

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

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