When Toronto-born and raised Dr. Anne Innis Dagg was four years old, her mother took her to the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, Ill. It was the first time she saw a giraffe in real life and it was the beginning of her life-long fascination with the world’s tallest animal.
“I thought they were magnificent… I asked my parents, ‘Could they give me a book about giraffes?’ and they said, ‘Well, there is no such book,” recalled Dagg.
Dagg would eventually write her own book — a scientific book that would become the bible on giraffes. She wrote another 20 books and more than 60 scientific papers. But before all of this in 1956, at 23 years old she set out for South Africa for what would become a groundbreaking adventure.
“As far as we know, she was the first person to study any African animal in the wild. So she came before Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey and you know, at that time, scientists studied animals in zoos and they dissected them,” said film director Alison Reid.
Reid said she heard about Dagg through an acquaintance and after she learned more about Dagg, she assembled a film crew and followed Anne over five years.
“I thought, ‘How is it that this story has not been told before?” said Reid.
The result was the 2018 documentary called The Woman Who Loves Giraffes, which retraced the steps of Dagg’s journey to, and studies in, South Africa.
“Well, I guess it was unusual for a woman from Canada to arrive like that,” said Dagg.
Dagg went on to get her Ph.D. in animal behaviour and became an assistant professor of zoology at the University of Guelph. But after all of her research and studies, she was denied her tenure.
She said another door was slammed in her face at a different university when a man with fewer credentials was given the job.
Dagg took her case to the Ontario Human Rights Commission and to what was then known as the Supreme Court of Ontario, but she lost.
“No matter how hard I worked, how many papers… they just said, ‘Well, you’re a woman,” said Dagg.
She then wrote several more books but turned her focus to feminist activism.
All the while, most Canadians were unaware of Anne Innis Dagg’s most significant contributions and achievements until now. At the end of December, Governor General Julie Payette announced Dagg will be appointed to the Order of Canada for her contributions to the modern scientific understanding of the giraffe.
“It’s the best thing in the world to see her finally getting the recognition by her country,” said Reid.
Dagg and Reid will travel back to Kenya for more wild giraffe observations later this month. At the same time, Dagg will celebrate her 87th birthday amongst giraffes.
The pair are also working on a second film to be a scripted version of Dagg’s story.