Johannesburg Zoo elephants await release ruling

Johannesburg Zoo's three elephants are awaiting a court ruling on whether they should be moved to a rewilding sanctuary after animal welfare campaigners argued that keeping them in the zoo is harming them.

The elephants are Lammie, 47, Ramadiba, 28, and Mopane, 26. Campaigners told a court in May that observations showed the animals were distressed and depressed, and asked for their immediate release to a suitable sanctuary.

Megan Carr, a senior researcher at the EMS Foundation, which is part of the application, said judgment is expected in the coming weeks. She said the three elephants are the last displayed in a traditional zoo-type setting in South Africa and Africa.

Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo opposes the move. City parks spokeswoman Jenny Moodley said the elephants are well cared for and had recently received a clean bill of health. Managing director Thanduxolo Mendrew said in court papers that the elephants are suited to captive life, especially Lammie, who was born at the zoo, and that the zoo offers public research and education opportunities.

Campaigners say the elephants need far more space than a zoo enclosure can provide. They said the animals share two night enclosures of 160 square metres each and spend days in a larger unshaded enclosure around the size of a football pitch.

The legal case follows the release in 2024 of a 42-year-old elephant from the national zoo in Pretoria into a private reserve after years of negotiations with the South African government.