Sir David Attenborough sends handwritten letter to Borders author

A Borders author and his granddaughter, who dedicated their new book to Sir David Attenborough, were surprised after he sent them a handwritten letter back.

Retired doctor, Oliver Eade, from Melrose, wrote and published a children's book about endangered animals during lockdown, with the help of his nine-year-old granddaughter.

The Zookeeper's Daughter touches on humankind's impact on nature - a topic close to the author's heart - which he has told through a story about a young girl who gets transported into the lives of wild animals.

Oliver said : "All these wild animals that I thought about for Lara's book, each and every one of them was threatened by humankind by one way or another - global warming, acidity of the ocean, deforestation - and I thought this was important, so the book changed."

The letter they received from Sir David Attenborough. Credit: ITV Border

His granddaughter, Lara, who lives in Switzerland, helped come up with names, story ideas and did all of the illustrations.  

Lara said: "It was kind of difficult because there were lots of animals to draw and 21 chapters. I also had to do homework for school so it was hard to do it at the same time."

When Lara received the letter from Sir David, she said "It was really impressive and exciting that he wrote to me." The personally written note read:

Oliver and Lara hope all who read the book will be inspired by the message to think more about animals and how to protect the planet.