‘Suffering psychologically’: Court battle looms over future of Joburg Zoo’s three elephants

Oct 6, 2024 | News

By Bernadette Wicks

  • Two non-profits have filed a case in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, aimed at releasing three elephants at the Johannesburg Zoo into the wild.
  • They say their continued confinement is “unlawful and unconstitutional”.
  • The zoo is opposing and says the applicants don’t have their best interests at heart.

A legal showdown looming in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria could see the Johannesburg Zoo’s three elephants released into the wild after years spent in captivity.

Two months ago, the last elephant at the Pretoria Zoo, Charlie, was released into the wild after 40 years in captivity.

If successful, a case two non-profit organisations brought against the Joburg Zoo and the City of Johannesburg could pave the way for the zoo’s Lammie, Mopani and Ramadiba to follow.

But the zoo is fighting to hang on to them and insists the applicants in the case do not have the elephants’ best interests at heart.

Animal Law Reform South Africa and the EMS Foundation launched the case in June 2022, and in September, a Rule 16A notice – which notifies other potentially interested parties that the case raises constitutional issues  – was published.

They argue that the right to protect the environment “requires the welfare and well-being of individual animals to be considered and promoted” and that, against this backdrop, the elephants’ continued confinement at the zoo is unlawful and unconstitutional.

Ultimately, they want the court to order their release into the custody of EMS “for purposes of relocation, rehabilitation and rewilding”.

In the papers, EMS director Michele Pickover said Lammie, Mopani and Ramadiba were “living in conditions that [were] adverse to their well-being” and “in a state of deep distress”.

Pickover detailed how experts from EMS and other organisations had observed Lammie in 2018, then the only elephant at the zoo; and how they returned in 2019 and 2020, after she was joined by Mopani and Ramadiba.

She said this was done over several hours spent in the public viewing area and – in some instances – using video recorded during those visits. It resulted in two reports, referred to as the initial and welfare reports.

“Among other issues, the observations made in the welfare report indicate that the elephants were fed food of inadequate quality and variety, that they received minimal physical and mental stimulation and that all three exhibited signs of mental strain,” Pickover said.

“Ramadiba in particular exhibited behaviour of an especially bad psychological state and was on more than one occasion observed banging his head against poles, which is an indication of self-harming behaviour.”

‘Sacred gods of life’

Pickover also described the elephants’ enclosure as “barren” and flagged the surrounding moat – into which Lammie previously fell – as a danger.

“The elephants’ captivity at the Joburg Zoo deprives them of the ability to live out their lives in an autonomous manner commensurate with the natural lives of elephants as highly intelligent and socially complex animals. As a result, they are evidently suffering psychologically,” she said.

The case is also supported by Chief Stephen Fritz – a senior chief of the South Peninsula Khoi Council – who is cited as the third applicant.

Fritz said in the papers that “nature and wildlife occupy a central position in the Khoisan belief and value system”.

“Elephants, in particular, are revered in Khoisan culture and are considered to be the scared gods of life,” he added.

He said:

I am unable to pass on my own cultural values to my children in relation to elephants based on the treatment of Lammie, Mopane and Ramadiba. I cannot tell my children that we believe elephants are sacred and to be revered, they are the gods of life and central to our lives, they are healers and rain makers – while at the same time we keep elephants in conditions that wholly undermine their well-being.

The zoo is opposing the application and managing director Thanduxolo Mendrew, in the answering papers filed in July, vehemently denied the claims. He charged that the applicants “primarily rely on highly emotive language leading to conjecture and speculation culminating in the anthropomorphising of the elephants”.

‘Lammie was born at the zoo’

“The disputes raised by the applicants don’t concern the well-being and best interests of the elephants, but rather pertain to the position adopted by the applicants on the international debate on whether animals should be kept in zoos,” Mendrew added.

In Lammie’s case, in particular, he said, the zoo had looked into releasing her after the death of her long-time companion Kinkel in 2018, but were advised the separation from her trainers would be traumatic and that it was unknown how well she would integrate with a new herd.

“Because Lammie was born at the zoo and kept in captivity for her entire life it was unlikely that she was physically fit to survive in the wild. She also was not used to foraging for her own food and was likely to approach human settlements, where she may have been a threat to persons or to herself,” Mendrew said.

He described the training, enrichment and nutritional regimes that were in place for the elephants.

Mendrew addded that the enclosure was, in fact, bigger than international standards required and had been revamped since Mopani and Ramadiba’s arrival to include “lush shrubbery and browse”, as well as a new cement dam in which the elephants could lie.

When it came to the observations that had been made, Mendrew said these were during particularly stressful times in the elephants’ lives – after Kinkel’s death and after Mopani and Ramadiba were relocated.

The case is yet to be set down for hearing.

https://www.news24.com/news24/southafrica/news/suffering-psychologically-court-battle-looms-over-future-of-joburg-zoos-three-elephants-20241005

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