By Mapaballo Borotho
- Animal welfare organisations and ActionSA are calling on the Johannesburg Zoo to release its three elephants, arguing that captivity cannot adequately meet their physical and emotional needs.
- Concerns have been raised about the elephants’ living conditions, including limited shade, enclosure safety and signs of distress linked to confinement.
- The debate comes as cities around the world increasingly reconsider keeping elephants in urban zoos
Animal welfare organisations have called on the Johannesburg Zoo to release three elephants currently being kept at the zoo into conditions better suited to their welfare, dignity and long-term wellbeing.
The Johannesburg Zoo is home to three elephants, Lammie, Ramadiba, and Mopane, which activists have repeatedly argued should be released from captivity.
This comes as the practice of keeping elephants in urban zoos is increasingly being reconsidered around the world. The concerns are not purely ideological, but are rooted in a growing body of scientific and practical understanding about elephants and their needs.
According to animal welfare organisations, elephants are not simply large mammals that require space. They are cognitively complex, socially structured and behaviourally dynamic animals whose lives revolve around movement, memory and relationships.
In the wild, elephants travel across vast areas, engage in complex social systems and continuously respond to environmental changes.
Captivity, by its nature, cannot fully replicate these conditions. At best, it only approximates them, and at worst, it severely suppresses them.
Meanwhile, ActionSA in Johannesburg has also called for the release of the three elephants into the wild.
“The case of these elephants is deeply troubling. In 2019, Lammie, Ramadiba and Mopane were transferred from captivity in the Eastern Cape to the Johannesburg Zoo, where reports now indicate they are displaying signs of listlessness and distress associated with prolonged confinement and unnatural living conditions,” said ActionSA Member of Parliament Alan Beesley.
“The environment does not speak for itself, and if we as human beings fail to act as its custodians, we risk accelerating the destruction of species, ecosystems, rivers, forests and oceans that future generations will depend on,” he added.
Beesley said the continued confinement of Lammie, Ramadiba and Mopane is based on the assumption that their needs can be adequately met within the Johannesburg Zoo. However, he argued that growing evidence suggests this assumption may no longer hold.
He also raised concerns about the elephants’ physical environment. According to media reports, there is inadequate shade, limiting the elephants’ ability to regulate exposure to heat.
There are also concerns about the design and safety of the enclosure, including fencing that allows close contact between elephants and visitors, as well as internal features that may pose risks.
One reported incident allegedly involved Lammie being pushed into a moat, with possible ongoing effects on mobility.
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