The country’s last zoo elephant has been released back into the wild after 40 years in captivity. Charlie the elephant was captured from Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park at the age of two.
When Charlie was captured in 1984, he was brought to the Boswell Wilkie Circus, where he was trained to perform various tricks. In the 2000s, he was transferred to the country’s only national zoo.
In 2019, questions were raised about whether Charlie was exhibiting behavior indicative of suffering and stress, which is not uncommon in captive animals. At the zoo, the elephant reportedly witnessed the deaths of four other elephants, as well as the death of his calf, which was less than a month old at the time. The EMS Foundation, an animal rights organization, has been fighting to free the elephant ever since.
However, South Africa’s National Biodiversity Institute denied that Charlie was unwell, saying instead that the stressful behavior was something the elephant had learned during his years in the circus. EMS believed this to be untrue and that the elephant was in fact unwell at the zoo.
After EMS, along with other organizations, spent the last few years negotiating with the South African government and presenting evidence of suffering, it was finally decided that Charlie would be released.
Free after 40 years
On Tuesday, the charity announced that the elephant had arrived at his new home at Shambala Private Reserve in Limpopo Province after a “a nail-biting four-hour trip to freedom”. The elephant’s new home is a 10,000-hectare reserve with a thriving elephant population and a reputation for successfully reintroducing animals into the wild. However, Charlie will be closely monitored by veterinarians and behaviorists to ensure he is doing well.
“Our dream is that at his own pace, Charlie will learn to be the elephant he was always meant to be, and that soon, he will meet up and integrate into the existing elephant community on Shambala”, wrote the EMS Foundation according to The Namibian.
