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South Africa’s national zoo frees its last elephant
JOHANNESBURG — The last elephant in South Africa's national zoo has been released into a reserve by a wildlife rights group, which said Wednesday it is pushing the country's only other zoo with the animals to do the same.
The 42-year-old elephant called Charley (spelled Charlie in other media) was removed from the national zoo in Pretoria and transported to a reserve in the northern Limpopo province, where he was released on Monday by the EMS Foundation.
This was a result of years of negotiation with the South African government which was provided with scientific evidence that elephants suffer in zoos, the foundation said in a statement.
#PressRelease: Charley the elephant has finally found freedom! ????? After years of captivity, FOUR PAWS successfully relocated him to a sanctuary in South Africa, where he’ll live a life free from chains.
— FOUR PAWS International (@fourpawsint) August 20, 2024
Read more: https://t.co/v1iavOEsHW
Captured from his herd in Zimbabwe when he was around two years old, Charley was sold to a circus to perform tricks and moved to the Pretoria Zoo in 2001.
"The science is clear that elephants are defined by space and should not be in captivity," executive director Michele Pickover told AFP.
The only other zoo in South Africa with elephants is Johannesburg's city-run zoo, which has three, she said.
"We are litigating against Johannesburg over those," she told AFP.
The release of Charley did not necessarily mean the government had decided to stop all exhibitions of elephants in its zoos, but it did not appear to have plans to get more, Pickover said. — Agence France-Presse
