Susanne Hart Books

Susanne Hart (1927 – 2010) was an Austrian-born South African veterinarian who was also known as Sue Hart or Susanne Harthoorn. Her second husband was veterinarian Antonie Marinus Harthoorn who developed the M-99 animal capture drug and gun for darting big game animals. In 1964 they moved to Kenya where they met George Adamson who, she said, taught her all about handling wild animals.

Life With Daktari: Two Vets In East Africa by Susanne Hart (1969) is the tale of the author's life as a vet with her veterinarian husband, Antonie Marinus Harthoorn. They set up a wildlife veterinary practice and animal orphanage in Kenya during the 1960s. Their lives and animals inspired the TV show 'Daktari' which was loosely based on this book and starred their one-eyed lion, Clarence, Pimbi the rock hyrax and a cheetah who fostered a leopard cub.

Too Short A Day: A Woman Vet In Africa by Susanne Hart (1966) recounts further tales of the veterinarian couple, written two years after they arrived in Kenya.

The Tame And The Wild by Susanne Hart (1966) includes more veterinary adventures involving their poodles and domestic cats which live alongside elephants and zebras.

Listen To The Wild by Susanne Hart (1972) the wildlife veterinary tales continue with a small lively genet, a mischievous mongoose, a duiker, obstreperous chimpanzees, a non-co-operative cheetah, fractious leopards, a badly mauled lion plus a giraffe. This book was reprinted as 'Vet In The Wild' in 1977.

Back In The Wild by Sue Hart (1977) includes chapters on the veterinary care of cheetah, elephant, buffalo, rhino, hyena, zebra, hippo and lions.

Hold My Paw by Sue Hart (1987) is a collection of children's stories about African animals.

Dr Sue: A Vet In Africa by Sue Hart (1995) continues the life story of the author with some repeat stories from her other books - orphan elephant and rhino; helping Iain Douglas Hamilton in Lake Manyara NP; staying with Joy Adamson and her cheetahs and treating George Adamson's lions.

Tales Of The Full Moon by Sue Hart (1979) is a collection of 10 short fact & fiction stories for children in which the story-teller 'Spinosa', a spider bush-journalist, explores some of the mysteries of the African wild.

Page Updated: Mar 2022