Fresh calls to remove elephants from zoo

THE future of Lammie, Mopane and Ramadiba, three African elephants living in captivity at the Johannesburg Zoo, will be decided by the Pretoria High Court.

Animal welfare organisation Animal Law Reform South Africa, the EMS Foundation and Khoi chief Stephen Fritz have taken on the Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ), the City of Johannesburg, the Gauteng MEC for Economic Development, Agriculture, Environment and Rural Development and Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) over the health and well-being of the elephants.

They had lodged an application on Monday to have the elephants released after finding that the conditions they were living in were unsuitable for their basic needs – a claim that has been denied by the zoo.

Michele Pickover, executive director of the EMS Foundation, alleged that the elephants had been cruelly separated from their families, deliberately captured by humans for a life in captivity.

Pickover said they had experienced life-long trauma as a result.

“In captivity, elephants have no agency. They have been removed from their context and live unnatural, isolated and denigrated lives,” Pickover said in court documents.

Megan Carr, Elephant Projects Lead for the EMS Foundation, said affidavits from behavioural experts were part of their submissions.

“The EMS Foundation and other organisations have suggested modern alternatives for people visiting the Johannesburg Zoo in the upper-class area of Johannesburg who want to see elephants in their natural environment.

“If we win this case the three elephants would undergo stringent medical assessments prior to the arrangements being fulfilled for their rehabilitation and relocation and re-integration.”

David Bilchitz, director of Animal Law Reform South Africa, said the scientific evidence from experts suggested that there were not just moral wrongs being done but also a violation of serious legal obligations by the Johannesburg Zoo authorities and the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.

“By keeping these elephants in inadequate conditions, the zoo fails to meet both its constitutional and statutory obligations to treat these animals with respect and not cause them unnecessary suffering.

“Their continued failure to release the elephants also constitutes a decision that is unlawful and unreasonable in administrative law.”

Fritz said: “We are the first people of South Africa and, in our view, imprisoning our sacred elephants, so named Lammie, Mopane and Ramadiba, showcases the past and the present will to humiliate and disrespect our culture and our heritage.”

The applicants are requesting that the court releases the elephants into the care of the EMS Foundation which would appoint relevant and qualified experts to assess the elephants and manage their relocation, rehabilitation and reintegration into a suitable wild environment.

The Gauteng MEC for Economic Development, Agriculture, Environment and Rural Development did not respond to questions related to the matter and the DFFE referred questions to the City of Johannesburg, who referred the Sunday Tribune to the zoo.

Responding to the court application, Jenny Moodley, the zoo’s general manager of stakeholder and public relations, told the Sunday Tribune that the application did not come as a surprise to the JCPZ or the City of Johannesburg and communication between the parties’ respective attorneys had begun as far back as December 2021.

Moodley said: “It has come to the attention of the JCPZ that the applicants have recently published or caused to be published a number of articles in the media containing a number of allegations which have been disputed by the JCPZ since the outset of the engagement between the parties.

“The JCPZ confirms and wishes to assure the public that the elephants are well, and their best interests are and remain the focus of the JCPZ and its staff caring for the elephants.”