Welcome to ANNEcdotes!
Welcome readers! Thank you for finding my home on Substack.
In 2018 I toured the world with the documentary about my life and career called, The Woman Who Loves Giraffes. I’m equally proud and bashful to say that we have rarely had a showing that did not include a standing ovation at the end. At the Q&A sessions that followed, many people asked if I wrote any stories, articles or poems that they could read and enjoy. And actually, for most of my adult life I've spent hundreds of hours writing stories or poems about things that interested me.
Upon discovering Substack as a venue for curiosity and musing, my daughter Mary Dagg and I have gathered scores of my writings and will be releasing them over time so that you can read and enjoy them at your leisure. I must be clear, though, that these documents flowed into my pen, or typewriter, when I was relatively young. Most of what I am sharing is prior to the year 2000. To my mind, this is what makes them of interest. Most of these articles are important because they were written at another time. To read them again is to go back many years and realize how things have changed in our lives. Or have they not changed at all? That’s for you to discover.
Mary and I will keep plugging away - adding more and more pieces to my Substack. And I hope you'll keep reading (and sharing)! Long Live Giraffes!
(l to r) Anne Innis Dagg and her daughter, Mary Dagg.
A bit about Anne: Dr. Anne Innis Dagg is a pioneering zoologist, groundbreaking biologist, animal rights activist, feminist, teacher and mother of three. She has received worldwide recognition as the first western scientist to study giraffes in the wild in 1956. Her book Giraffe: Biology, Behaviour and Conservation (1976) is known as the bible of giraffes and is still used by scientists to this day. She is the author of over 60 scientific papers and 26 books including, Pursuing Giraffe: A 1950’s Adventure and The Fifty Per Cent Solution: Why Should Women Pay for Men's Culture?. In 2019 she was appointed to the Order of Canada and has received honorary doctorates from the University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, Mount Saint Vincent University and McMaster University. In 2020, she fulfilled her lifelong wish and established the Anne Innis Dagg Foundation to protect giraffes and their habitat.