Vicki Constantine Croke has been chronicling animal life for more than two decades --- tracking polar bears, Tasmanian devils, and Madagascar’s top predator, the fossa. She now covers animal issues for WBUR-FM, Boston’s NPR news station, on air ("Here and Now") and on WBUR’s The Wild Life online. Her work there earned a 2013 regional Edward R. Murrow Award. She is the author of THE LADY AND THE PANDA: The True Adventures of the First American Explorer to Bring Back China’s Most Exotic Animal, and THE MODERN ARK: The Story of Zoos — Past, Present and Future. Croke has worked on nature documentaries for Disney and for the A&E channel and anchored The Secret Life of Animals on NECN-TV. She also wrote The Boston Globe’s “Animal Beat” column for thirteen years, and has contributed to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The London Sunday Telegraph, Time, Popular Science, O: The Oprah Magazine, Gourmet, National Wildlife and Discover magazine, among others. She lives in the Boston area.

Books by Vicki Constantine Croke

Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II

by Vicki Constantine Croke - Biography, History, Nonfiction

Billy Williams came to colonial Burma in 1920, fresh from service in World War I, to a job as a “forest man” for a British teak company. Mesmerized by the intelligence, character and even humor of the great animals who hauled logs through the remote jungles, he became increasingly skilled at treating their illnesses and injuries, and championed more humane treatment for them. In ELEPHANT COMPANY, Vicki Constantine Croke chronicles Williams’s growing love for elephants as the animals provide him lessons in courage, trust and gratitude.