Marianne Du Toit

Marianne Du Toit

Marianne Du Toit is a South African woman who has been living in Ireland since 1996. Following graduation in 1992 with a BA degree, majoring in political science and psychology from Stellenbosch University, South Africa, Marianne travelled and worked extensively throughout Europe for three years. In 1995, she single-handedly planned and embarked on a three month cycling tour of Europe. In 2002 The TATA Challenge (www.tatachallenge.com) was conceived. It was an epic journey, which involved Marianne walking and trotting with only two horses for company  (she was a novice rider) from Argentina to New York over a 21 month period. Crying with Cockroaches, an account of this extraordinary adventure is her first book.  As the idea for her trip evolved, Marianne realised that it could also help others and chose to use it to highlight the lack of therapeutic riding facilities in Ireland. She is currently a director of Pegasus (www.pegasuscentre.org), a therapeutic riding centre in Sligo.

A devoted animal lover, Marianne campaigns for animal rights by supporting the DSPCA and other welfare organisations. She is known to rescuing stray and lost dogs from the streets of Dublin. Marianne is particularly interested in drawing attention to the cruelty involved in the production of foie gras where ducks and geese are force-fed (by the insertion of metal pipes in their throats) over a twenty one day period. She also supports the movement to ban fur farming in Ireland, seal hunting in Canada and the use of animals in circuses.